Knitty Knitty Bang Bang

WIPS to attack 2012

2012-01-11T15:16:00.001-06:00

This is one of my favorites posts to do every year. It makes me look at the things I have in progress and makes me think about why I haven't finished them. I find it interesting to see what made me stop knitting something and sometimes when I pick it up again and finish it in a day or two. My, what a fickle knitter you are, Tasha!

A few stats about the Wips that I had at the start of 2011. Of the 18 that I specifically addressed, I finished 8 of those & frogged 2. Did you do that math? I should have 8 left! Well.....I created a few new projects that have become my "need to finished" projects.

First let's talk about what's new because that is so much more interesting.

Sam Sweater #2 - I wanted to make a sweater for this cutest little baby that was born October 2011. I started it right about the time that he was born, but I got bored & well, I was making a one year size so I figured I had plenty of time. I pulled it out the half finished project & couldn't figure out where I had left off, what size needles I had used, etc etc. I am pretty religious about entering that kind of info into Ravelry the minute I start a project, but I started this sweater on the plane to Paris last year & I had thrown several different sizes of needles in the project bag. After I finished the back, I was totally lost & started freaking out. I checked with the mom to see what size he was in, and low & behold he is 14 months old & is in at least an 18 month. So I start over making this sweater, which is Sam sweater #2. It's SO CLOSE to being done, I just need to make the button band, sew on buttons, and weave in some more ends. Did you know that striped sweaters have so many freaking ends??? I already dealt with a bunch of them, but there are still quite a few.

Sam Sweater #1, which is still in progress & still has the problems referenced above. Cabled Baby Sweater. I couldn't put my hands on it to get a picture, but it's that cute one in the link but navy with gray in the sleeve / cuffs. Which has nothing to do with the Dallas Cowboys, I swear.

Woodsmoke Scarf - When Loft came out I had to have some & cast it on immediately. I'd been looking for a perfect yarn for this scarf, and this was it. Just have to finish the borders. It's so soft & pretty.

Endpaper Mitts - I really love these. I'm going to get back to them, they are so bright & happy. I'm still intimidated by the colorwork, but I'm going to push through it on these mitts.

Curlique Shawl - I've tried to start this shawl twice and I'm still not digging it. I think it is destined to be frogged again.

Camo Socks - I am making these for Patrick. I was trying to surprise him, but I got stuck right here & not knowing how long to make the foot. I finally fessed up to him about these, so I need him to try it on, finish the toe, and cast on for #2.

Girlfriend Market Bag - This was part of Cast on mania in August & I truly hate working these K2tog with the Sugar & Cream cotton. It's in the frog pile.

Persephone - I'm not sure why I stopped working on this. I love the idea of this sweater in this yarn (Brooks Farms Willow). The pictures really don't do it justice- it's going to be really pretty.

Slippers - One finished with that terrible pink toe. I thought I was going to work some stripes in these, but I was working on them during an Ann Budd workshop, visiting with my fellow students, and got carried away. By the time I decided to add the pink the slipper was done. I'm tempted to pull it out & redo the toe, but really, they are slippers, I think I can live with it. Not to mention that they are knit flat & seamed, so I'd have to pull out the seam, frog the toe, reknit & reseam. That seems like a lotta work for a slipper. I cast on for #2, and I finished the first one in a half day class, so I really need to sit down, work on it, & finish it up. It wouldn't take long!

Astrid - Did I even talk about Astrid last year? I know for sure I haven't taken an in progress picture since I've been this far along. I started this in July 2008 and I pick it up periodically. As you can see, I have a lot of circles done. I checked my notes & I have all small & medium circles done & I think I need to finish 11 more big circles to be finished. If that is true, wow, it's close. Other than all of that seaming, which I won't do until I can lay it out. I also included all 5 needles I found in that bag. Needle eater!

Girlie-flauge Clapotis - destined to be frogged - I truly hate the stark whiteness of the white in it. This yarn would make great monsters, though!

Chevron Love Mittens
Oh how I love these mittens. I got completely stuck on the thumb & I won't begin to explain to you why, let's just say I was confused. Which I was. And kind of still am, but at least I think I have it figured out. This is a perfect example of getting off track on a project & then letting it sit forever even after you know what the problem is, but you really don't know why you can't just pick it back up again! Because if I haven't mentioned this, I love them.

Now let's talk about the leftovers from the beginning of 2011 (including the few project that I had hibernating but there is no use ignore them because they exist).

Vintage Velvet - this one is on the cusp. I surely can't read my knitting on chenille yarn with reversible cables. I'm not sure what to do with it. Part of me thinks just finish it like it is, even if it's wrong, because really it's going to be felted & this gorgeous color no matter what. And I can't even imagine what frogging Touch Me would be like.

Barn Raising Quilt. Sigh. You will recall that I post about being finished with this last year. It was finished but the icord around the edge was kind of tight & I couldn't block it out to the size that it really wanted to be. I pulled it out, need to block it, then come up with another way to do the edging. That is part of cleaning up my yarn room so I have room to block & use my new steamer. I did work on the cleaning mission today & I think maybe there is enough room for this, I might try it this weekend.

I haven't worked on any of these to any great extent, so there really isn't much to say about them:
One Row Buffalo Scarf

Learn to Knit Afghan
Notes of Lyra
Misty Ike Socks
Triple S Shawl
Lace Sampler Scarf

Trellis Shawl (needs to be frogged, including mohair)
Noni Adventure Bag (needs to be felted. That's it. It's even sitting in a zipper bag on the dryer. Seriously)

I also have these bags done & they just need to be lined:
Noni Carpet Bag
Carla Cabled Bag
Sunburst Purse
I figured I would put it out there, doesn't hurt to have a little peer pressure to get it done.

And there you have it. We won't even talk about the fact that I have 3 brand new for 2012 projects on the needles. Ahem.

Goals, schmoals.

2012-01-04T12:27:00.000-06:00

I don't know why I feel the need to have a talk with myself every year about what kind of knitting goals I have for the following year and then never look at them again. I'm done. Not doing it. Here they are if you want to read about it & laugh. Or I'll give you the quick recap.

I bought lots & lots of yarn even though I said I wasn't going to (that did last 3 whole months though).
I didn't make any gifts ahead. Not even one. I did give away a bunch of my past knitting, but it wasn't entirely planned out, so to say I did it on purpose is kind of cheating. I also finished up a baby sweater that the baby outgrew while I was making it & gave it to a different baby, but again, completely unplanned. It seems unfair to turn my timing failure into a "planned gift", but it did work out & I recommend it if you have nearly finished baby presents lying about.
Get rid of sock yarn? What was I, INSANE? Well, I did finish 6 pairs of socks, which is pretty good. And I made 11 other things out of fingering weight yarn, a few of which were originally in the "sock yarn" category. Most importantly I did knit up the Yarn Pirate Culture Club that I specifically targeted in that post. I am thinking perhaps that wasn't a coincidence. Let's call it a win if for nothing else my self esteem.
Wips - that will be addressed in a full post of it's very own. I don't think I can bear to do both in one day.
Limit spending to $50 per month for the first quarter. I can call that a victory, I really didn't buy much yarn until after DFW Fiber Fest, but wow, how the flood gates opened after that. My total for January to March was for sure under $150.
"Look at my existing yarn in a new way & stop trying to make it into the project I loved 4 years ago." I still love the sentiment of this goal. I did a little bit of this through using some of my sock yarn for hats & I also used some of a dye lot of a discontinued yarn to make a baby sweater. I usually save odd amounts like that thinking that I'll find the perfect thing, but it was the right color for the right baby & I went for it. Now I have enough of that yarn to make another baby sweater or something and make it all work out. The few things that could fall into this category really end up being using up odds & ends, which I put a pretty good dent in too, but not enough.
"Knit stuff that I love. Destash the rest." Yeah, I'm really not a good destasher - I like to have AllOfTheYarn. I did a lot of culling in January last year, but otherwise I keep my yarn. I can't help it & no I do not have a problem.
"Enjoy what I have and admire what others have without necessarily coveting some of my own". I love that as well, I would say my success rate on that is pretty good. Most of the stuff I stashed this year was pretty specific, most for baby things. I see stuff & I want it too though, I am only human.

What would I like to see for my 2012 knitting life? I refuse to make too many goals. Since I am kind of at a clean slate, I can tell you where my head is.

I would like to concentrate on sweaters & sock since I tend to use those finished objects the most.
I am not putting too much pressure on myself - not so much "joining" & going along with a crowd, more just doing what I want when I want. That's the only way the multiple sweater / sock thing will ever work out.
I am attempting to not buy yarn until DFW Fiber Fest, and then only a set amount. No random buying just for fun. I put some personal parameters from a financial standpoint & while I'd like to say NO YARN, I do know that isn't practical. Let me get through the next few months and then we'll talk.
I feeling like historically I have put a lot of pressure on myself to "get organized" & then I go follow a group around, and that just doesn't really work for me. I've never been a person that likes to be held to rules & restrictions, it makes me wonder why I've ever sought that out!
Get my yarn room organized once and for all! It seems like I'm constantly throwing a bag in there. Or throwing books on the floor instead of putting them on the shelf just to get them out of the living room. Or put stuff in there that I don't know what else to do with. It's a mess & that is stopping me from another goal I have - BLOCKING. I have loads of stuff that needs to be blocked, but the yarn room is really the only spot where I have room to do it that is safe from the curious paws of my cats. I find myself putting off the blocking part for most stuff because of this, so if I could just get it straight maybe I'll be more motivated to block the stuff that needs it. Besides, I got a commercial grade steamer that should make this process so much easier - I hate my current steamer for so many reasons. (drippy, not hot enough, takes forever, etc, etc). I found a commercial grade stand up steamer for $45 on woot.com & ordered it immediately. I can't wait to try it out!

The only structured thing that I have going on - and I'm doing it because in our case the word structure is truly laughable - is that my friend Lyn & I have planned to start knitting through the book Knitter's Book of Socks. I cast on for the first pair, Stepping Stones, on Jan 1 & am flying through them. That is probably because they are knit out of heavyweight Socks That Rock (in color LL Cool Socks in case you care) & I'm just so happy to be knitting something for ME that I can't stand it.

So that's it - very loose & not very specific "goals" which pretty much amount to no goals. I like it. Happy New Year!

2011 - The Retrospective

2012-01-01T00:36:00.000-06:00

I feel so completely disconnected from my knitting right this second. I spent several days in Louisiana with my family to celebrate Christmas, came home & immediately left for Costa Rica with my inlaws for a week. That setting really wasn't conducive to wool. Let me assure you, sunscreen + sunburn + heat + more moths than I've ever seen really does not equal knitting mojo. (yes, I did freeze every bit of yarn that I brought with me just in case, why do you ask?)

Here are just a few of the hundreds & hundreds of pictures I took while I was there:
Me at Manuel Antonio Park

One of the many sloths we saw at Manuel Antonio Park (through the lens our guide had)

It was hard to take a bad picture of this beach at Manuel Antonio Park, but this is one of my favorites:

I swear we went more places than that park, but I have so many great pictures it was a good place to start. Well, one more. Here is the view from the house where we stayed. I took a picture of Patrick in the pool daily because he spent an awful lot of time in there (both with & without beer, scotch, rum, etc) We actually spent a lot of time at the house because really, why wouldn't we?

I might post more about the trip later, but I figured I would throw those pictures up now because my track record of trip reports really really sucks.

Are you ready to get back to the knitting? Honestly, I'm not either because I can't stop obsessing about the pictures of Costa Rica, but I'll do my best. I managed to get my numbers together for 2011- it's such a boring thing for everyone else, so let me take a moment to wish you a very Happy New Year & if you want to skip the rest of this I won't blame you one little bit. As usual I like to have a LIST of everything I made in the year, because goodness knows having it all on Ravelry & tagged by year just isn't enough for my OCD brain.

Totals: 51 items (10 less than last year. I blame all of the wash clothes I made last year)
Breakdown as follows:

Scarves - 10

Socks - 6 PAIR

Hats - 7

Wash clothes / towels - 2

Toys - 3 (all mini)

Shawls - 10

Cardigans - 2 adult, 4 baby

Other baby items - 2

Fingerless / regular mitts - 3

Sweater Sampler, which doesn't fit anywhere - 1

January – 1 baby, 1 shawl, 2 pairs socks, 1 hat, 1 scarf

Happy Baby Blanket

Simple Yet Effective #2

Flamingo Stripe Monkey Socks

Groovy Thorpe

Knit Clinic Preppie Socks

Savvy Scarf

February – 2 scarves, 1 shawl, 1 hat, 1 misc

Melody

It’s Good to Be Girl Shawl

Nouveau Bohemia

Sweater Workshop Sampler

La Novia

March – 1 hat, 1 scarf, 1 adult sweater

Quest

Lettuce Slide Scarf

Peasy Sweater

April – 1 scarf

Noro Melody

May – 1 scarf, 1 shawl, 1 pr socks

WM Poison No 5 Clapotis

LSU Socks

Mara in MT Fathom

June – 1 shawl, 1 scarf

Striped Study Shawl

Chroma Striped Scarf

July – 1 scarf, 1 pr socks, 1 pr mittens, 1 mini toy, 1 washcloth, 2 shawls

Shelburne Scarf

Pinata Socks

Eugenia’s Mitts

Tiny Zombie

Cotlin Washcloth

Ellie Shawl

Guernsey Wrap

August – 1 towel, 1 hat, 1 pr socks

Gridded Hand Towel

Bob Sockhead Hat

Loopy Striped Jaywalkers

September – 1 blanket, 1 baby dress, 1 shawl, 1 hat

Barn Raising Quilt

Clara Dress

Aspen Wrap

Sockhead hat Jitterbug

October – 3 baby cardigans, 1 pr socks, 1 shawl

Lace Edge Cardigan

No Purl Monkeys

Easy Baby Cardigan

Citron

Bitty Cabled Cardigan

November – 1 baby cardigan, 2 scarves, 2 shawls, 2 hats

Garter Yoke Baby Sweater

Easter Egg Honeycomb Scarf

Shoulder Bling

Traveling Woman

Saroyan

Jayne Hat

Turn a Square Saints Hat

December – 1 scarf, 2 mitts, 2 toys, 1 adult sweater

Cranberry Garter Stitch scarf

Sweet Fern Mitts

LSU Mitts

Tiny Santa

Curtis elf scarf

Featherweight Cardigan WM lace

Next time I'm going to address all of the WIPs I have. Remember when I made my true confession last year? Well it's time to revisit that & my "resolutions" for 2011 to see how I did. I hope 2011 was good to you & 2012 brings you nothing but joy & happiness. I'm truly blessed and can't really complain.

Dear Knitwear Designers,

2011-11-02T11:15:00.000-05:00

Please stop coming out with terrific books with patterns that I-must-knit-right-this-minute. The cooler weather has given me a severe case of sweater knitting-itis and I've been buying your publications like a crazy person. There seems to be no end to great looking patterns & I am stuck knitting random hats & baby items because I can't make a decision. Can you hold off until next year so I can get a few of these done just in time for Spring 2012 as is my tradition of sweater knitting? Thank you.

Sincerely,
Tasha

PS - I threw in The Knitters Book of Socks because I just got it last night and I love it too.

Barn Raising Quilt

2011-09-28T16:34:00.006-05:00

I seriously can't believe what I'm about to tell you. It is totally shocking to me because I have never even once visualized this as a finished project. EVER. Are you ready?

I FINISHED MY BARN RAISING QUILT!!!!!!!

I started this project in April of 2008. The general concept was to use sock yarn scraps to make a 7 inch square until I had 42 squares - that is what the pattern calls for (I ended up with 56 because apparently that's exactly how crazy I am). I had so many sock yarn scraps back in April 2008 that I really thought I need to do something with them. Reality is that I had exactly 8 scraps, I went back and checked. I made a few squares & came to the realization that it would take me 14 bajillion years to knit up 42 pairs of socks & have enough scraps to finish up this blanket. I came up with a brilliant idea to get new scraps for my blanket - I would ask all the knitters I knew for one of their yarn scraps.

Here is what I found out. When you tell people that you are looking for sock scraps for your blanket, they will offer you every single sock yarn scrap they have in their possession. I know why, honestly, because now I have scraps that I would love to (and do) put into the hands of people who would love them. What I quickly figured out is that if I took every scrap from one knitter I knew, the blanket wouldn't become about all of the knitters I knew. My friends laugh that I was pretty strict about it, like "I have already given Tasha a scrap so she sure won't take another one." For the most part that is true. I didn't want to have a blanket full of someone else's scraps - I wanted this blanket that would take me most of my natural life (or 3 1/2 years) to finish to mean something to me. My "rules" really made people think about which scrap meant something to them so they could give it to me.

For example:
Manda gave me this Zen String Blueberry Pie scrap because I drew her name in a swap & I gave her this yarn since purple is her favorite color.

Becky gave me this scrap which we affectionately called the Groovy Greg Brady sock yarn. I was with her for the many weeks that she worked on these socks. There were many stories told over coffee at our local coffee shop, much gossip shared. Groovy Greg Brady is a part of those memories for me.

Liz has several scraps in my blanket. This is her favorite yarn because it's Aggie yarn. Not only that, but I bought this yarn for her. We were on our first ever trip to Kid N Ewe & she really wanted this yarn but passed on it because it was literally one of the first booths we visited that year & she wasn't ready to buy it. When she wasn't looking I went to the vendor and bought the yarn for her. She was SOOOOOO disappointed that she wouldn't stop talking about it forever. I was going to give it to her for Christmas but I broke down & gave it to her that weekend, that is how sad she was that she didn't buy it when it was available.

This is the yarn that I used for my mother-in-law's birthday present from 2009. I chose the yarn and pattern specifically for her, and that shawl was one of the prettiest things I've ever made. The best part? Based on the prodding of my friends, I entered that shawl into the Texas state fair and won a 3rd place ribbon in 2010.

Amy gave me this Madeline Tosh scrap & if you knew Amy you'd say, yep, that looks just like Amy.

I really could tell you about every single of the 56 squares in my blanket but I'm sure that would bore you to tears.

So while you were looking at those pictures I know exactly what you were thinking. "Tasha, block that blanket, please, those squares look like they have nipples." No? Go look at those pictures then tell me that's not true! Here's where the story turns a little sad. After I finished the border I immediately wanted to block it out. I tried to steam it but the border is just too tight. Having said that, I really LOVE the way the border looks. I love the icord, I love the pink, I think it adds exactly what I wanted for the finishing. I refuse to change this project status to "not finished" right behind it being finished. I am going to rip out the border, block this thing, then make a decision on what to do about the border. Seriously, it only took me about 3 nights to do the icord, so I'm tossing around the idea of doubling the border yarn, using larger needles, maybe a crochet borders? I don't know and to be perfectly honest I can't even think about it right now. I'm currently in the EEEEEP-I-have-to-pull-out-my-border mentality. I might even bring it to knitting tonight & let someone else do it because you know those friends that so freely gave scraps for my blanket? Those bitches are also quick to rip out a project if you just can't bear to do it. That is a true friend.

What I Learned from Cast On Mania

2011-09-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

Well, August is over & with it goes Cast On Mania. I must admit that I'm a little sad because I was having fun casting on whatever I wanted. Obviously I didn't start something new every single day but here is what I ended up with:

Number of newly cast on projects: 11
Number of finished projects from those: 2
Number of frogged projects from those: 3
Number still on the list in danger of frogging: 1
Number making it through to the regular WIP pile: 5

This exercise was so much fun. Some things that I learned about myself & my process:

* I don't need to buy new needles for a long time. Holy crap, despite having 30ish things on the needles, I still have a collection to chose from if I wanted to cast on for something else. I have a few Knit Picks Option sets, which I truly love. I have also been adding Addis to my stash for as long as I've been knitting. No more needles. Wow.

* I really love the process of picking out a pattern and yarn pairing. I could (and do) spend hours searching for the perfect pattern for a specific yarn I have. Or the other way around - I find a pattern that I love and spend time picking out a yarn that will work best with that pattern. Seeing what they become together is a really satisfying part of the process. I have had my fair share of failures in this area, but I will admit I've gotten much better at it. Sometimes the pairings still don't work, but I think the longer I knit the more wiling I am to pull the project out.

* I LOVE TO CAST ON!

I decided that in September I was going to work on projects already on the needles because obviously I have a few things I could work on. It seems like there is temptation everywhere! I found out that a friend is adopting a baby and she will be here in a few weeks, so I had to cast on for a new baby thing. It's the Clara Dress that was featured in a Soak ad several years back. I've been wanting to make it forever so I finally broke down and bought the kit in a dusty plum color.

The other temptation is from Single Skein September with the Stash and Burn podcast group. I participated last year and I pushed through a lot of projects that I had been wanting to make. This year I'm trying to resist so I can work on the bigger projects that I already have started. Today is the 7th and I've only cast on one new thing (the Clara dress), so maybe I can make it without casting on more. I just stashed my needles away and am hoping to stay far far away from them....but we'll see.

Riding the Crazy Train

2011-08-17T11:19:00.000-05:00

My cast on crazy train took a little detour because I went to Louisiana over the weekend. I brought a few of my projects with me but ran into a few problems - mostly needle problems! I got to the decreases on my Sockhead Hat & had to put it away. I must admit that when I started this madness it never occurred to me that I might actually FINISH something this month. There I was though, on decreases with no shorter needles or DPNs. I almost broke down and went to the new yarn shop in Hammond, LA (which looks adorable & I can't wait to visit) or to Hobby Lobby or something, but I could hear Patrick cackling in the back of my head telling me that he KNEW I'd have to buy needles. I fought off the urge knowing that I had the dang needles at home and it was only a few more days, seriously! I worked on some of the other projects I brought and I am trying to accept that the most adorable Fiesta Frock baby sweater is just not going to work out. It is entirely too wide and despite adding a little bit of length, the proportions are definitely off. If I frog something & cast it back on using smaller needles, does that count as a new cast on for the day? I have to think so. Here are the other things I started before I left Thursday and since I got back.

Heel Head Scarf using this Adrienne Vittadini Trina that has been in my stash for what seems like a million years.

I bought it 50% off at the Woolie Ewe way back when I realized that there was a clearance section. I have a weird amount of it - which is exactly why it was in the sale bin. I had a project picked out for it all this time but when I grabbed all of my stuff together to cast on for it, I realized I didn't have enough yardage. Go figure! This scarf with a hood has been in my queue forever, so I paired them up & cast on - isn't that the point of this exercise??

When I got back I immediately finished the Sockhead Hat (with needles that I already own, thankyouverymuch). My nieces saw the nearly finished hat & both of them threw a fit & wanted it. Right after I finished the first one I cast on for another in this Colinette Jitterbug Fruit that again, I've had forever! Great old stash busting that I've got going on over here.

Camp Loopy Project #3 started on Monday so I cast on for The Aspen Wrap in Amy Butler Belle DK.

This was my Monday AND Tuesday cast on project since I started on size 9 needles & I didn't like the way it looked. I have to finish before September 15th to finish up the 3 months of camp challenges and that WILL happen. It's been fun.

Since I'm trying to finish up the Camp Loopy Aspen Wrap in a month, I'm debating casting on more projects in August. There are so many things I want to cast on though, and it seems to be working....stay tuned. I'll let you know what happens!

Still Casting on

2011-08-09T19:26:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm still casting on. Since I last checked in I have cast on 3 new project.

The 19th Century Honeycomb Stitch Scarf in this Three Irish Girls Bryn

A Girlfriend Market Bag in this very old stashed Sugar n Cream

And tonight I'm casting on the Knit Gridded Towel in this yarn (also vintage stash!)

It is a fun exercise & I highly recommend it. I've gotten a surprising amount of knitting done on these projects. Casting on with wild abandon is really a lot of fun & very freeing. I have had to stop myself from casting on more than one project each day - how is that possible?

I have also have some comments about needles. Sigh. I do have a lot of needles. So far I have had the sizes of all the needles I have needed, but I'm waiting for the day that I don't have what I need & have to pull from another project or (gasp!) buy more. That was Patrick's very first comment when I mentioned the challenge, so I'm trying to keep my word that I'll have what I need to move forward on a daily basis. I really don't see a need to buy more needles, but we'll just have to see.

Join the fun or plan your own month of casting on craziness!

Cast On Mania August 2011

2011-08-06T10:30:00.001-05:00

I have some craziness going on right now. I heard about a challenge where you are supposed to cast on a new project every day of the month for a whole month. My immediate reaction was "That is the most insane thing I have ever heard in my life". After contemplating the idea of about 24 hours, I had a plan of action. The more I thought about it the more it actually makes sense to me. Half the time the problem with me putting off a project I really want to knit is simply gathering the needles, finding & winding the yarn, finding & printing the pattern and getting it all together in one place. After it is cast on I can just grab something and work on it - no real thought required. I made a list of about 45 things that have been in queue for years - these projects range from baby items to socks to hat to sweaters - all levels of time involved.

There is no universe that I believe I will actually finish any of these projects in one day (or maybe even in the month!), but at the end of the month I can reassess the new projects on the needles and frog the ones that I don't want to continue with. I don't know that I will cast on something new every single day, but for the past 2 days I have & it's fun to think about what to do tomorrow.

Here's what I've done so far:
Fiesta Frock - CO 8/6

Sockhead Hat - CO 8/5 - This is perfect movie / brainless knitting.

What about you? Do you think this is a genius idea or it is just crazypants?

DFW Fiber Fest - April 8-10, 2011

2011-03-26T20:11:00.004-05:00

(disclaimer - this is "knitter Tasha" talking, not "board member Tasha" - as if I'm ever anything other than "knitter Tasha")

So, I'm pretty sure I haven't talked about this on my blog, but this year I am on the board of DFW Fiber Fest. This knitting event has a place near & dear to my heart. We are in our 6th year, so this was the very first fiber event that I ever attended. For Valentine's Day 2006 Patrick got me a full weekend of classes. I was such a new knitter - I had only been knitting for about 8 months. I took 6 classes in 3 days. Do I need to explain to you how big of a deal that was for a brand new knitter?

I felt a little nostalgic as I read my posts from that time period. Before I went. Immediately after I returned. (I'm happy to say that Alissa Barton is still putting up with my stupid questions & mistakes, as well as my not so stupid questions & mistakes). A post about my dyeing class. ANYWAY, I've been every single year since they have started & I have been there for the whole thing other than the 2 years I was a Disney with my nieces (their Easter break) and last year I even left Disney half a day early & came straight from the airport at noon to go to my 2PM class. I met some of my best knitting friends there that first year. The event continues to grow & while some people think because we "aren't as big as Stitches" or that our classes don't sell out in 15 minutes that it can't be all that. I assure you, it's so much fun. I've been to some big events & this still remains on the top of my list as a favorite.

The benefits of it being a smaller venue are apparent. You get more face time with teachers, shopping is fairly easy - it's rare to feel claustrophobic & crowded even at really popular booths. All of the people - friends or not - are so friendly and open, it's hard to find anyone that isn't just happy to be there. I guess you can say that about most knitting events, but I truly mean it. It's in my back yard & rather I was involved or not, I could never imagine not supporting a local event that brings National & local teachers together for a weekend of learning & yarn buying! If you have never been, you should come, no matter where you live. Every year it keeps growing & growing & growing - it is our goal to never get it so big that it loses what makes it so special.

What sold me being on the board was that I got to work with the Vendors. We have a lot of repeat vendors coming but the new larger venue has allowed us to expand the vendor hall to some new to us vendors. We took a lot of time balancing the needs, wants, and feedback of past students to create a good mix of vendors. I have to say, it's a lot of work. It's been a lot of fun. I truly hope it all turns out as I have envisioned it.

If you are in the Dallas area, please come see us. If you aren't & you would need to travel, consider coming next year. It just keeps getting better!

Nothing Says Love Like Zombie BBQ

2011-02-14T07:00:00.003-06:00

This is what my sweet husband got me for Valentines Day. So much better than flowers.

While this breaks my "no yarn" rules for the first quarter of 2011, I am pretty happy about it (like jumping up & down happy). The dyeing geniuses at Lorna's Laces created this colorway for the Sock Summit in 2009 & I fell in love with it immediately. It is even prettier in person that I could have imagined. Now....what to do with it.....

I love that man!

New Fun Stuff

2011-02-13T11:56:00.001-06:00

I've been a little absent from blogging because stop the presses, I've actually been knitting a lot!

My friend Lina has a brand new pattern out, Nouveau Bohemia. I pulled some DIC Classy in the Petal Shower colorway out of my stash & knit up the beret version.

The pattern was very well written, easy to follow, and her photos are so great. She is a professional photographer living in NYC - I love to read her blog & see her great pictures. She is also having a contest to celebrate her blog's new home, you can enter it here. The contest ends tomorrow, so hurry!

The other thing that I finished very recently was La Novia designed by Anne Hanson.

It needs a good blocking, but it turned out really pretty in the Pigeonroof Studios Superwash Sport yarn. The color is really gorgeous.

The other fun thing that came in the mail this week was my order from Three Bags Full. One of these was supposed to be a gift, but now I'm thinking not so much.

I was unsure about the size of these (they are the minis), but I really wanted the owls. As it turns out, they are a great size - my wound skein of Classy & my hat project fit in there just fine with a few notions with plenty of room to spare. I would love to have the bigger one as well so I'll be stalking for a fabric that I love. You know, because I need another bag....

What Do These Things Have In Common?

2011-02-01T08:00:00.002-06:00

My couch ate them all. I was on a mission to find one thing - the remote, but you knew that didn't you? I moved my couch cushion - uh, jackpot! Some of this was found between the sections of my sectional, like the cordless phone (set of 4 which is why I didn't tear the couch apart to find it when it went missing weeks ago) & the Addi turbo size 11, 32 inch still in the package.

Items found under cushion:
2 pens, 1 pencil, 2 pair of scissors, a ponytail holder, a container of chibis, 1 size 4 Knitpicks Options tip, a small crochet hook, 6 stitch markers, countless beads (seriously, I stopped picking these up), and a nickel. I often hear people talk about paying for a meal with the change you find in your couch cushions & well, my nickel wouldn't buy much. But I don't know one knitter that wouldn't be happy about finding this loot which is obviously much more valuable than a few bucks in change.

Just for the record, I also looked under Patrick's cushion & he didn't have anything fun under there. Not even one fun thing! Go figure. Go look under yours & tell me what you find - please! You never know what might be under there. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was hoping the cushion would cough up my Knitpicks Option set complete with binder that has been missing forever. No such luck.

Yarn That is Just Too Pretty To Use

2011-01-02T13:00:00.000-06:00

I have been reading a discussion about using up yarn that you have that is your holy grail. Every knitter has some of this yarn. It's sitting there waiting for the "perfect" project. I am determined to knit some of my precious yarn. You want to see it? Because, honestly, it's so pretty & I couldn't limit it to a couple because I have a bunch of it.

Black Bunny Fibers Alpaca Silk

My friend Betty gave this yarn to me & it is positively stunning. I LOVE silk because of the sheen it adds to the yarn & the alpaca blend makes it perfect perfect yarn. And that color - oh my.

Bijou Spun Bamboo / Yak from Bijou Basin Ranch

This company had a booth at Stitches East when I went to last year. They were on my list of booths to see because I have a cat named Bijoux & I thought it was fate. I was so overwhelmed that I completely forgot about it until the last day. This was my last purchase - a splurge on 2 skeins of bamboo / yak yarn. But I know why I haven't used this. Their most recent product is a dyed, color version of this yarn. I saw them in person a few months ago & OMG they are STUNNING. Now I am dreaming of buying some colored yarn & doing stripey scarves in alternating colors. It is a bit of an investment, these gorgeous, expensive scarves, so that's going to have to wait a bit.

Handmaiden Sea Silk in Stardust

Sigh. This is maybe my favorite yarn ever. I love it in the skein, I love it knitted up, I love working with it, I love the final product that it makes. Did I mention I love silk? I won a Survivor pool (yes, I bet yarn on reality shows & no, I don't have a problem - that's not why I stopped at all) and I got a lot of gift certificates to The Loopy Ewe so I bought this yarn with those certificates. It's such a great color & looks truly silver on this base, which is really hard to find. It is destined to become the Eiffel Tower Shawl. I planned to make this to wear in Paris, but that never happened. I'm more determined than ever that this is what it is going to be though. I'm a little worried that I will run out of yarn, so I was waiting for enough people to finish it that I can get a better idea of if I have enough yarn to make the larger size, which is what I would prefer. Need to get on that research because it will be a divine project & I have already bought the pattern. Natalie has a ton of great patterns - check her out.

Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere

This is maybe the softest yarn that I own. I bought it on vacation in Destin last Christmas & immediately decided that it needs to be a Tibetan Clouds Beaded Shawl from The Knitter's Book of Wool. I even bought the beads for it, but now I'm not sure. Since I've been wearing some of my shawls, I find the rectangular ones harder to work into my everyday wardrobe. Thus the stalling on this yarn.

Shelridge Farm Soft Touch DK

I heard great things about this yarn & when I saw it in person at Stitches East, I had to have it. This color was an "accident" - she mixed her blue with forest green & this is what came out. It is completely gorgeous & is on the forefront to become a sweater for next fall. Right now I'm thinking Coraline.

The Fibre Company Road to China Light in Dark Amethyst

This yarn is positively dreamy & I have no idea why I bought it or what I'm going to do with it. Alpaca, Silk, Camel, & Cashmere. Seriouly.

Wollmeise Blaue Tinte

I think all of the Wollmeise that I own is gorgeous, so I don't really know why this yarn in particular is just too precious for me to use. It is SOOO hard to capture the true color of this yarn - the color literally glows. It's one of those yarns that I can't seem to decide on a worthy pattern for. Right now Trevi from Anne Hanson is winning, but you notice I haven't cast on for it yet.

So what is your precious, too pretty to knit yarn? I'd love to see it. And I'd love to see you knit with some of it in the new year. Happy 2011!

WIP Update Early 2011

2010-12-29T10:00:00.001-06:00

So.....last year I did a WIP reveal & had a few "finish or frog" conversations with myself. According to my calculations, at that time I had 16 WIP (not including my Barn Raising Quilt, which doesn't really count because it's a long term stash buster). I finished 6 of those, frogged 5, and there are still FIVE previous projects that are still not finished. And now I have 18. I guess I need another talking to.

Here we go again, but I'm starting with the most recent.

Ellie Shawl
I love this yarn & pattern combo. I bought this yarn at the Brooks Farms booth the first year they came to DFW Fiber Fest - I do believe it was in 2007 though I can't be absolutely sure. I just love the color & while I was knitting on it over the Christmas holidays my Mom insisted that I need to buy more if I see it. It's just that pretty & the pictures don't do it justice (as usual).

Happy Baby Blanket
This is for a friend that is having a baby in mid-January. I'm 1/4 of the way through & it went really really fast (like 3 or 4 days of light knitting maybe). I need to get on it because she'll be here anytime. They think she is going to be early - yeah, right!

One Row Buffalo Scarf
Clicking along on this.

Old Rose Moebius
It needs to go to the frog pond - I'm going to run out of yarn before it's as big as I want it.

Give me some sock mojo socks
I stopped knitting on this because I can't find my working copy & I'm too lazy to pull out my book so that I have the heel directions. Seriously, that is the laziest thing I think I've ever said.

Peasy
I do like this sweater, I think it's destined to be finished, not frogged.

Shoulder Bling
This is some of the easiest knitting that I have on the needles. I just need to wind more of my yarn. My cat got into it & it's....a little loved on. She really loves yarn & she doesn't actually hurt it, but she doesn't like it to be in a neat skein or ball. I really hate to straighten it out either way.

Lace Edge Cardigan
I need to sew on the edging or this baby is going to outgrow it! I knit a 6-9 month & she was born in July. Like I need to get sewing pronto. Damn you, Debbie Bliss.

Vintage Velvet
I lost my place on this & I am horrible at counting rows on cables. Chenille yarn surely doesn't help.

Hellfire Crosswalkers
I think this is too many stitches. The pattern swears it's not & it will work out, but I'm not buying it. It needs a frog pond visit.

I Love Being a Girl
Another project that stalled because I need to wind another skein of yarn. I think I see a pattern developing, but it honestly makes no sense because I have to wind new yarn to start a new project. Geeze

Garter Rib Yarntini
I ran out of yarn. In April. The yarn dyer was nice enough to send me some of the base to finish the socks. And I still haven't wound it. OMG - what is wrong with me????? (UPDATE: Wound the yarn & finished these 12/29/10. They are a little wonky because the toes are different & I didn't continue the patter for the same amount of repeats. And I don't care - they are house socks and DONE!)

Learn to Knit Afghan
Long term knit. I have done 22 of 63 squares. A lot of the ones I have left are slipped stitch / mosaic knitting & I must admit, I kind of hate those squares! Maybe I should figure out the color pattern on the afghan if I knit the other squares 3 times or something. We'll see. I tend to pick this up when I'm at a total loss. I really do like the Knitpicks Swish Worsted & I'm enjoying knitting with it. I would be happy to use this for baby things & washables in the future. (These colors + Pink)

Notes of Lyra
I really love this shawl. I'm test knitting it for the designer & it's a great knit. I finished the chart one full repeat & it's so pretty. I just have to be in a special mood to work on lace with beads. I would love to finish this & I can see it going in my gift pile because honestly? The yarn color is just not working for me. That might be part of why I keep stalling on it.

Sweater Sampler
This has been on my goal list for the past 2 years. I was rocking through the sampler all the way until I got to the button part. This is one of those projects that you need to read & not being doing something else. It's very rare that I am in that situation - I usually knit while I'm watching TV & Patrick already fusses that I make his rewind the show we are watching quite often. Another thing is that because it's pretty involved I didn't make myself a working copy so I have to work out of my book. That gets really cumbersome & stops me from picking it up as an "easy project". Easy must be my new safe word.

Lace Sampler a la Franklin
This was on my list last year, but as a long term project as well. I am wanting to pursue my stitch dictionaries for patterns for it, but that is also not very portable. That really stops me from working on this because honestly? This is the softest yarn I've ever worked with. It's absolutely dreamy & you'd think I would be doing whatever is necessary to work with it! But....I'm all about easy, remember?

Misty Ike Socks.
Ok, I will admit it. I don't think this sock fits all that great. I cast on for the number that should have worked but then it was too big in the heel / gusset. Then I decreased to make the heel / gusset work. I have no idea what I really did & how to make #2 work with it. So my real problem now is...do I frog it? Try to match it? Make a sock like I want for #2 & live with the fact that they are different? I'm currently leaning toward #3 but honestly the decision paralyzes me. I haven't ever been able to knit socks successfully with Socks That Rock. Ever. That makes me sad, but it's true & I can't seem to fix it.

Barn Raising Quilt
I have 39 of 42 squares knit. I have so many scraps that I want to include that I keep increasing my plan for a bigger blanket. But I won't pick the last 3 just in case I don't make more & then I'm stuck with what I knit. I want it all to be "perfect" - I'm once again paralyzed by a decision that really won't matter, but it seems like a really big decision.

That is 18. I'd like to say that is all of the WIPs I have going on, but honestly there are a few more in my "hibernating" section of Ravelry. But I don't want to talk about them. Or they need their own post...
* Triple S Shawl (I love it dearly, but it needs it's own post)
* Astrid - about 45000 circles to make then seam (not really, but it's a lot)
* Dallas Guild shawl - which is more of a plan than WIP.
* Trellis still needs to be frogged. But who wants to frog Kid Silk Haze? Not me.
* Noni Adventure Bag is sitting in a zipped pillow case on my dryer waiting for a felting. Where it's been for about 6 months. I hate confessing that to anyone. I'm scared to death to felt it!

2010 FOs

2010-12-28T23:48:00.002-06:00

My most boring post all year, but I do enjoy going back & revisiting these later. All of my FOs for 2010.

January - 1 cardigan, 2 scarves, 2 shawls, 1 hat, 2 baby (considering chicken a baby), 1 pr socks
Lucy in the Sky - brown
Geaux Saints Scarf
Colonnade Shawl
My So Called Hat
Annabelle's Shrug
Fit & Float Scarf
Happy Harlot Socks
Clapotis - ms nancy
Chicken Blanket

February - 1 cardigan, 1 fingerless mitts, 1 scarf, 1 pair socks
Ophelia
Cheery Hand warmers
Big Cheery Scarf
Ribbed BFF Socks

March - 1 sweater
Vesper (kinda, I still need to weave ends)

April - 1 hat
Purple toddler hat

May - 4 hats, 1 shawl, 1 scarf, 1 baby
Roll brimmed hat x4
WM Traveling Woman
Noro Wisp
Baby Bib (orange)

June - 8 washcloths, 1 hat
8 washcloths
Odessa for Mom

July - 2 washcloths, 1 baby sweater, 1 scarf, 1 toy
2 washcloths
Louise Baby Cardigan
Lengthwise Garter Stitch Scarf
Little Lamb

August - NOTHING

September - 1 washcloth, 4 hats, 7 scarves, 2 toys
1 washcloth
Scathach hat
Shawl Collared Cowl
Wine hat & scarf (categorizing as a toy, I mean, what else is it??)
Rapunzel x 2
Muppet Scarf
A Very Warm Hat
Purple Alpaca Scarf
Star Crossed Slouchy Beret
One Row Malabrigo Scarf
Mustard Scarf
Center Square Hat

October - NOTHING

November - 2 shawls, 1 scarf, 1 hat
Sangre de Cristo
Basket weave alpaca scarf
Unoriginal Rowan Hat
Mara Shawl

December - 2 toys, 3 scarf, 1 mitts, 1 pr socks
Wine scarf & hat x 2
Casbah Sugarplum Batkus
Squooshy Mitts
Eternity Scarf
Jordyn's Pink Scarf
Yarntini Good to Be Girl Socks

******

Scarves - 16
Socks - 3
Hats - 12
Washcloths - 11
Toys - 5
Shawls - 5
Cardigans - 3 adult, 1 baby
Baby - 3
Fingerless Mitts - 2
61 total

Wrapping up 2010, Looking Forward to 2011

2010-12-14T10:34:00.002-06:00

2011....it will be here before you know it. As this year closes & I'm suddenly doing last minute Christmas knitting AGAIN (don't I say every single year that I'm not going to do this????) Actually, I'm more looking at the yarn to knit those presents & not doing it. I can't help but look forward to my goals for next year. Lately I have been doing a bit of "have to" knitting - baby gifts, Christmas presents, fast last minute stuff. Two nights ago I decided that I needed an easy project out of nice yarn for ME & I went in my yarn room and wound some Buffalo Gold Buffboo (discontinued, sorry).

I hear a lot of talk about the Buffalo Gold & to me it always seems like yarn that you stash & don't use because it's so nice. Which is totally ridiculous, I know. It's also pretty pricey stuff. It suddenly occurred to me that I have two skeins of buffalo yarn and, well, I didn't buy either one of them. I traded a friend for one & then last year I won a skein at the DFW Fiber Fest. How cool is that? In keeping with last year's goal of not saving the nice yarn for the Pope, I cast on a One Row Scarf. It's so soft & nice that I swear, I don't know what to do with myself. It's little yarn on little-ish needles, so it's going to take a while. But what the heck, I knit every day & I only have a pile of projects on the needles so what's one more????

Wow - that was quite a tangent. Here's what I'm thinking for 2011. I figured out how much yarn I bought this year. Don't do that unless you want a huge shock. HUGE.SHOCK. I'm not revealing any true confessions here, but it was more than I thought. So I'm saying it. 2011 is going to be a stashdown year. It has to be. I can sell or knit, but Stashdown here we come. I've heard some talk that it's "trendy" to stashdown....I'm not sure if I believe that. I think every year there is a movement for people to consume less, declutter, lose weight, stop spending, save money, etc, etc. I usually don't follow that bandwagon because for the most part I think you are just setting yourself up for failure. I remember hearing a speaker once say to pick ONE thing to change. If you say you are going to change everything about your life, you are just fooling yourself. It is possible, but it takes more self restraint than most people can take all at once. I know I can't do it & I'm not even going to try. I've lost about 30 pounds this year & I can tell you, it has mostly come from very small changes, not huge behavioral differences. I believe this in most areas of my life & that's where I am. But honestly, the stash is out of control. I have a huge yarn cabinet & it's busting at the seams. I can't get more yarn in it which is causing some overflow. That is RIDICULOUS. And frankly, if I knit up every bit of this yarn, what in the heck am I going to do with all of those knitted goods???? Well, here is my plan:

* Gift knit ahead. This year I've had several last minutes wishes for knitted gifts. I figure if over the year I knit some scarves, shawls, baby things, hat/scarf sets, etc. that I don't claim mental ownership of, I can gift randomly. I have a few people that I wish I could just give them a scarf when they admire mine (if not the one off my neck!) and there is no reason that I can't do that. I really do love scarf knitting & I love appreciative recipients. Knitted gift giving does take a little forethought though, and by the time I think of someone to give something to, it's usually too late. In the past I have thought that I need to knit for that person specifically, and in some cases I still believe that. For the most part, though, I think a random nice person that I want to give a scarf or something to won't care if I carefully picked out that yarn & pattern for them or not. And really, how many brown & pink scarves can I wear??? (my yarn color of choice for years!)

* Get rid of some of this sock yarn! I blame 2007. And 2008. I got in the horrible habit of snatching up the new latest-and-greatest-hard-to-get-OMG-pretty-and-it-is-only-$20 sock yarn craze. That gets out of hand very very very quickly. And I did it for a couple of years. To be honest, the yarn is still pretty but no one cares about it anymore. For example: I fought tooth & nail catching Yarn Pirate updates until I finally scored some Culture Club.

I still love it dearly, but seriously, try swapping it for the new "latest & greatest" & see what happens. No one cares anymore! I try to tell myself these days when the popular yarn posts & I get caught up in the craze. I'm pretty good about it too though I still find it hard to resist Wollmeise (I did last week though, YAY me!). So I'm going to knit some up and/or sell some. Incidentally, if you'd like your own skein of fabulous Yarn Pirate Culture Club it's very easily available on Ravelry destash for...you guessed it, about $20. You can't have mine because I still hoard it like it is the rarest yarn on the planet. Will I knit it up this year?

* WIP (Works in Progress). Well, I did this in 2010, remember? I'm happy to report that I started with 16 projects, finished 6, frogged 5, and that leaves FIVE previous projects that are still floating around out there. Only 5 WIPs, Tasha? Bwhahahahaha. Make that 18. That's what I did this year, start a bunch of crap that I didn't finish! It looks like a new WIP post is in order. Really, though, this will eliminate a lot of my stash yardage quickly. Well, more quickly than starting stuff from scratch, anyway. In all fairness, 2 of those are long term blankets & one was on the needles when I did that last post but I didn't count it....(I'm going to stop justifying now). I do need a frog or finish intervention, though.

* $50 per month limit on knitting stuff for 1st quarter 2011. I can't do a no-buy. I just can't do it. I like my yarn, I like my knitting stuff. Sometimes I need yarn to finish something or to add to something I have or just because it's pretty. Or I want to buy a pattern. Or needles. And April brings DFW Fiber Fest & that means I can buy direct from a variety of oh so great vendors. I can limit it in for a few months, though, and then reassess the situation.

* Look at my existing yarn in a new way & stop trying to make it into the project I loved 4 years ago.

* Knit stuff that I love. Destash the rest.

* Stealing this from Susan-from-Athens on Ravelry: "enjoy what I have and admire what others have without necessarily coveting some of my own." That woman is smart.

What are your goals for 2011? Do you have any? Will you be buying up a ton of yarn? Can I watch?

PS - I will talk about my trip to Paris at some point. I'm still processing it in a lot of ways. Here is one shot for you:

Yes, I found an alpaca. In Paris. Go figure. And since that wasn't very Paris-y:

Taos Wool Festival October 2010

2010-11-12T21:22:00.001-06:00

I have been trying to put together a blog post about my experience at the Taos Wool Festival for weeks. This is why I end up not writing about my trips - I want to write about every moment & it's such an overwhelming task that I can't get past the first day. So how about today I'll tell you about Taos in pictures?

Cool lodge where we stayed Taos Mountain Lodge

Food that we ate (I'm telling you - they put green chiles in everything! I loved them but seriously - I don't need every damn thing I eat to have chiles in it, and that includes you, Mr. Beer)

Welcome to the Taos Wool Festival 2010

When we got to the festival the very first thing we saw were critters! This was a huge surprise to me - I wasn't expecting critters & I was very happy to see them there.
ALPACA!

SHEEP!

LLAMAS!

YAK & BABY YAK!

Scary llama video. Keep watching & turn up the volume - you can hear him growling at me.

I had never been to New Mexico. It is so gorgeous & I fell absolutely in love with it. I'll go back tomorrow. (apparently if you want to split gas & have a free place to stay, I'm your girl).

I was lucky enough to be traveling with Betty. Betty is a firm believer in visiting local bars to get a feel for the place.

Yes, you are reading that right. Abe's GROCERIES, Bar & Grill. How could we not go check it out?

Stray Dog Cantina (don't just call them Stray Dog - they don't like that much)- the only real bar open on the top of the mountain (in Ski Valley) out of season.

The Adobe Bar inside the historic Taos Inn

My personal favorite - there was a bar inside of the radio station. Yep - complete with a big dance hall, a swing band & lots of happy dancing people. It was a most unique experience.

Eske's Pub - this is where we drank the Green Chile beer - only because there weren't many options. There were many BEER options since they brew their own, but if you don't like beer, don't go here. Having said that, I don't like beer but I did enjoy my beer. How could I not taste it?

After we ate, and festivaled, and did sight seeing, and took in all of the local flavor, we decided to....hit yarn shops. What else, right? Because surely we didn't buy enough dang yarn from all of the vendors at Taos. Geeze.
First we went to Weaving Southwest. I've never seen anything like it & I've been to some pretty impressive yarn shops!

Red Willow Art and Fibers
This was a great shop that recently opened to showcase local artists. It is a great concept, Julie was positively charming, and the shop is so unique - you must go. (no web presence that I could find - but they are listed on this website)

This might be my favorite picture of the trip. We went to a shop that had a weaving demonstration. They let us sample Mexican hot chocolate & roam around. This was one of the many many many gorgeous rugs / wall hangings that were there.

And my very very favorite thing about the whole weekend? The vibe in this tent:

A Ravelry tent was set up & you could bring your chairs & hang out. It was such a fun & relaxing place to be that I swear, we spent nearly our whole time here. We would go look at some booths & pet yarn, come back to the Rav tent, hang out, knit, eat snacks, chat with new friends...it was just really cool. It was a place that you could leave your bag - a few times I even walked off without my wallet & never even worried about it for a minute. We met so many cool people & had great conversation, saw great knitted items, watched many talented knitters & spinner...we saw much show & tell, heard stories about what people bought & why, heard excitement from other people like ourselves that had never been & bought loads of stuff. It was just really neat. As a board member I'm helping to organize the DFW Fiber Fest & I wish I had a bottle of that atmosphere so that I could open it up at our event. Come join us in April 2011 & help us make that happen. (ok, shameless commercial, but if you are still reading you deserved a poke!)

What did I buy? I'll tell you as I knit it up because it's really embarrassing how much new stuff I got when I didn't even need one thing!

Peace.

Because I couldn't make this up if I tried....

2010-10-24T11:42:00.002-05:00

I have loads to say because I've been a traveling fool & I want to share my adventures with you, but I had to show you this. I couldn't make this up if I tried. And don't I wish I had because people would be handing my money faster than I could count it. There is a new Wii game called Kirby's Epic Yarn. You heard me.

I resisted for several days even. Yesterday afternoon I couldn't stand it anymore. I had done responsible house work & grocery shopping & not fun stuff most of the day & I caved. I started playing & I took some screen shot pictures because again, I couldn't make this up.

There is MAGIC YARN. We already knew that, but for it to go public is pretty big news as far as I'm concerned.

And yes, they are in Quilty Square. Bwhahahahahaha.

See, yarn does fix everything.

And there is a fabric store! Run by a guy named Loomis Woole.

There are buttons & zippers & felted fabric & you unravel the enemies & collect beads - it's such a knitters dream that I don't even know what to do with myself. OH OH - and the bad guy has evil knitting needles, but I didn't have my camera out when they showed them. On top of that, it's getting great reviews from the gaming community as a whole, so it's not just us.

If you have a Wii, go get it right this second!!!!!

Commercial over.

LOOK! I DID WIN SOMETHING!

2010-10-07T22:49:00.002-05:00

How excited was I when I went to the Texas State Fair yesterday & saw this:

As it turns out, I DO rock, it wasn't just in my head! Although 3rd....hmmppphhhhh. I won't even go there because it will just make me sound bitter.

YAY ME! As my hubby told me tonight, I am clever, but I'm not modest. (Did I mention that I love that man?)

Next time I'm going to tell you all about my last minute surprise trip to the Taos Wool Festival. It was fabulous!

Oh, and PS - get that damn stupid can off my shawl please!!!!!! Thank you. (no offense to Robert whatever your name is because I'm sure you are a lovely person).

Wine Scarf & Hat

2010-09-19T10:41:00.001-05:00

Why oh why would a wine bottle need a scarf & hat? Because it's freaking adorable! Look.

My sister called me a few weeks ago & told me that she saw the cutest thing in a catalog - a scarf & hat set for a wine bottle. And she wanted one but it was $17!!! Did I think I could make that? Now, I don't know about you, but I have stopped making random stuff for the people in my life because well, they don't like it as much as I think they should. Or I guess I should say that I have stopped making unsolicited items of my choosing for people because if I'm going to make them something I want them to ZOMG-love-it. So when my sister calls me up & asks me if I can make something....well, ding ding ding....I'm in! (I think she's figured this out, btw, and next my post will prove it). So my husband told me to tell her that yes I can & I'd only charge her $10 (joke, of course). I was going to wing it but a quick search for "wine hat" on Ravelry resulted in several patterns & I'm not one to reinvent the wheel. I pulled out some scraps & whipped this up literally in a few hours. It really is cute. You can find the patterns here.

This is why I love hanging out with other knitters...

2010-09-17T16:34:00.001-05:00

So I'm at knit night & had this conversation.

Candice (also a knitter): So, what are you making?
Me: A scarf for a wine bottle.
Candice: Oh, CUTE!

Not at all what I expected. I can think of 17 appropriate ways to respond to that answer but only another knitter would respond with "oh, CUTE!" without even questioning why a wine bottle would need a scarf.

Full details to follow soon.

This is the kind of mail every knitter loves to get

2010-09-12T17:10:00.000-05:00

Isn't that hilarious? This box came from The Dizzy Sheep - it was full of my discount yarn that I bought over the Labor Day holiday. It really made my day - it makes me want to be friends with whoever would write that on my yarn box. I'm also pretty glad my mailman isn't as yarn crazy as me or it might have never made it to my house!

Casting on Like a Crazy Woman

2010-09-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

I swear, I think Single Skein September 2010 (SSS10) has unleashed a beast. We are only 6 days in & I have already cast on for 5 new projects. As I talked about in my last post, I made this Mustard Scarf out of some yummy Lisa Souza cashmere

I still haven't picked a button - that is a whole different can of worms. I did weave the ends in & it's wearable, so I consider it DONE.

I also made this hat that I've been wanting to make forever

The pattern is Center Square & I mistakenly knit it out of Knitpicks Mainline, which is a 75% cotton / 25% wool yarn (also discontinued). Not a good combo for stranded work. It has no elasticity & frankly, it will fit a conehead. This is only my second stranded project and I tend to pull too tight - this really isn't good for stranded work & I'm really going to have to work on it. Either way, the yarn is used up & I got some practice holding one color in each hand. It is SOOOO awkward, but I find it really interesting knitting.

Other things I've cast on for:
The One Row Scarf in this awesome Malabrigo Seleccion Privada.

I found it at a yarn shop in Houston & I fell madly in love with it. They only had one skein & I had no idea what I could make with one, but I couldn't leave it there. Perfect candidate for SSS10. This pattern is pretty brilliant - it makes great texture but is dead simple & goes really fast. It's going to be adorable, if I may say so my self!

Another pattern I have been dying to make is this Rainbow Moebius. Mine won't be so "rainbow" since I'm not using a yarn with long color repeats like that. I'm using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK .

I got this yarn in my Loopy Groupie package. It's like they looked at all of my orders & sent me something they knew that I would love, because I do love this yarn! It does give my moebius a different look from the original, but I think it will be really pretty.

#5 thing that I cast on for is the Eden Scarf. I've been told that it isn't very practical, which is so very true! But I think it's adorable & I want to knit it, so there you have it. I bought this Mini Mochi specifically for this pattern after seeing some knit in this yarn on Ravelry. I think it will be cute & impractical - my favorite kind of accessory!

So that's what I've been doing since last Wednesday. You know what else? I think the fact that we have officially been under 100 degrees here in Dallas for the last week has really helped. It even got down to 66 the other night! Suddenly it seems possible that one day it will be cool enough to actually need a knitted item. Hooray for fall (ish) weather!

What are you working on? Any ideas for single skein projects? I have a lot of month left.

Every Yarn Tells A Story

2010-09-01T11:43:00.001-05:00

Doesn't it? For me, it does. Today I'm going to tell you the story of this gorgeous skein of Lisa Souza handspun Cashmere Merino in Jungle. Sigh.

mmmm....cashmere. You don't really care about the story anymore do you? Last October when I went to Stitches East, I made a vow to myself that the yarn I would buy at the market would be different, original, nothing that I could buy at my LYS or readily get my hands on. It was a good plan, it really was. The night of the market preview I was totally overwhelmed. I was walking around in a bit of a daze surrounded by gorgeous stuff when the pen of yarn appeared. Yes, PEN of yarn. One of the vendors puts up some fencing & it is chock full of bags of yarn at discounted prices - it's INSANE. I got a little caught up in it & found 2 colors of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that I really love & was hoarding them. Sweater quantities of a yarn I've been wanting at discounted prices. Heaven, right? It's exactly what I wasn't supposed to be doing but I couldn't help it, I was caught up in the frenzy. As I was trying to decide which color to get (or just get both), I turned around & hanging in Lisa Souza's booth was this single skein of yarn. A perfect combination of greens, handspun, plied like I like it, and a 50/50 cashmere wool blend. It was soft & squishy & beautiful & exactly what I envisioned buying at my first Stitches experience. I threw the bags of yarn back in the pen & immediately bought this skein of yarn. My first Stitches purchase which set the tone for my additional purchases & my whole trip. It's what I think about every time I see it in my yarn cabinet. This morning.....I wound it into this:

Today begins Single Skein September, which is a month long Knit-A-Long hosted through the Stash and Burn podcast group on Ravelry. The intention of the KAL is to burn through the oddballs of yarn that you have stashed - you know all of those hats & scarves & small stuff that you buy yarn for but never get to? For me, I like to buy a ball or two of something to "try out" or sometimes (as is the case with this skein), the yarn is fairly high priced & one ball is all I can justify. What in the world do you do with all of those single skeins? That is the question I've been answering for the past few days, planning what yarn to use for this challenge. My first thoughts fell to various hats & the odd skeins of different Knitpicks yarn that I often throw into an order to get to free shipping. Or the yarns that are on the clearance rack at my LYS because there is only one or two of a color left & I buy them because "they will be perfect for chemo caps". Or the countless one skeins that I've bought to swatch to see if I like it enough to make a sweater (PS...I NEVER follow through with this!) Then my thoughts went to this yarn. This lovely squishy, gorgeous yarn that I've been sitting on waiting for the "perfect" project & the "perfect" time to knit it up. I'm here to tell you, today is that day. No time like the present! I'm going to make a Mustard Scarf. I love the look of it, I have a soft spot for scarves, and it is knit on size 15 needles so it should go fairly quick.

Stay tuned for more updates on fast one skein projects during September - I plan to burn some single skeins! We'll see how that goes.

And the FAIR Winner Is.....

2010-08-26T20:49:00.001-05:00

So.....today Liz calls me to see if I got my fair results. Well, naturally Patrick has my mailbox key & is eating with his friend at Buffalo Wild Wings. Enter panic & anticipation. As it turns out, Liz got Honorable Mention on her photo & man, that is HUGE because I saw how many entries the photography department had & it was...overwhelming. Loads & loads of people entered photos. I have no idea how many people entered knitting.

So Patrick got home & got the mail. And OPENED my results (cardinal sin, me thinks).

3rd. I got 3rd. My friends tell me the shawl category is pretty competitive & that is ridiculously awesome....I don't know how to feel. I hope it has some notes & feedback because I'd like to see what they say. And what beat me. Dude, I'm so competitive. This is a side of me I wasn't really aware of!

But I'm happy - really I am. I can't wait to see it displayed at the fair. That's a big deal, Y'all!

What am I knitting?

2010-08-21T10:33:00.004-05:00

Wow - I feel like I haven't talked about what I'm actually knitting in forever! Here are a few things I just finished:

Louise Cardigan in Ella Rae Lace Merino

This pattern is from the Vintage Baby Knits. When I was knitting it I was a little irritated at the fussiness of parts of it, but it turned out really great. I also remember why I love a baby sweater knit all in one piece! It's for one of Patrick's co-workers - I sure hope they like it!

Next up is this adorable lamb from Itty Bitty Toys

I always find toys fiddly to knit, and this one was no exception. For once in my life we didn't have 14 different kind of fast food drink straws in my house so I had to cut a fat straw for the legs. That didn't work out so well, so he won't stand up. He sure is cute though! He went to live with my swap partner but I think I'm going to have to make another one for my yarn room (hello, I COLLECT sheep).

Right now I have so many different things going on that I will be lucky to ever finish one. I'm working on a new sweater, Peasy, in some Rowan Felted Tweed that I got at the Woolie Ewe 2 or 3 years ago! Yay me for using stash yarn (and making room for another sweater's worth that I just bought last week, but whatever). It's really hard to get excited about sweaters when we have had 19ish days of over 100 degree temps here in Dallas, but soon enough it will be fall & I'll be happy that I pushed through the heat.

I also cast on for some socks! Same weather feelings as the sweater - it's hard to believe that I'll want to wear wool socks, but last winter I really enjoyed pulling out my handknit socks when it was chilly. To top it off, I am using some Knit Clinic yarn that was dyed by my friend Liz when she had an etsy shop of her very own. I've been saving it but I figured I might as well be enjoying it & I'm so glad I did. It makes me wish she'd start dyeing again right this minute - look how great it's coming out!

I actually finished the first one Thursday night & cast on for #2 last night. To me that is half of the battle - getting #2 on the needles! It's my first venture into short row heels & toes, toe up from Wendy Johnson's book Socks From the Toe Up. These are the Dead Simple Lace socks & they really are.

I'm also clicking along on my crazy striped shawl (it's about 2/3 done) and another baby sweater, so I have plenty to keep me busy. Then why oh why do I want to cast on another 8 projects this weekend? Dear knitting gods - please give me the strength to work on my existing projects & not be seduced by the thrill of new projects. Amen.

PS - I dropped my shawl off at the fair last weekend. We have to wait 2 weeks! TWO WEEKS. I thought they'd be all "OMG - this is so beautiful. You are da bomb" but they were pretty stoic about the whole thing. I'll let you know what happens.

Jumping In

2010-08-03T12:09:00.001-05:00

This year I have decided to put a project into the Texas State Fair. Best that can happen is that I win a ribbon, worst thing that can happen is that I get some feedback on my work. So...what did I enter? My Mother-in-law's Autumn Leaf Pi Shawl designed by Kay Meadors.

This is one of my favorite items that I've ever made & the one that has caused the most gasps from other knitters. I hope it's worthy & I can't wait to see what happens. I got my entry so I bring it the weekend of August 13-15. I'm sure that will be cause for many stories here.

Time at the Farm

2010-07-27T12:12:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I grew up on about 40 acres and we had cows & horses. My Dad had chickens. I come from a line of people who know stuff about farming & gardens - both of my grandfathers were farmers. As much as I love living in the city, I really do miss fresh veggies & having some domestic animals around that aren't cats or yard bunnies. (although this guy was in my yard this morning & he wasn't scared of me at all).

Bonus points that he is really cute & my cats were in the yard & never even noticed him. Apparently they are also city animals.

I honestly can't remember when I first met Cindy, but she was perhaps one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She lives out 30 minutes or so from me & she has a fiber farm in Parker, TX. My favorite Christmas present from Patrick this past year was a share in Cindy's farm, Jacob's Reward Farm. Here is a little info about the CSA program. Since December I have been wanting to go out & visit Cindy & the animals & meet the new sheep & alpacas that I hadn't seen yet. Cindy has a spin in type day once a month. People pile in her little red barn & spin, or for non-spinners like myself, knit. We went a few weekends ago - her recap is way better than mine. And I made the video AND blog photos.

Did I mention that I got a new camera? And I've been playing with all of the settings? How does that tie in to the farm talk? Because I took some pictures & had my camera set to "night" because I was busy taking pictures at the Grease Sing-A-Long a few weeks ago. The first 3/4 of my pictures at the farm look like they were taken in a dream state. Interesting though. I never claimed to be a great photographer!

The Little Red Barn (in dream state)

Alpacas! (in dream state)

Chicken (in a dream state)

Gizmo! (in a dream state)

Patrick & Kenny trying to pet Gizmo (in a dream state)

Jethro (who we named, poor Cindy) & other Jacob Sheep

Alpacas! And I finally figured out that I was on the wrong setting. See, it was a really gorgeous (and hot) day.

Gizmo - after petting. I think he is saying "back off right now, seriously"

The other sheep

I want to go back right now & often! It's a really fun place to visit.

Putting my great knitting skills to use

2010-07-16T08:13:00.001-05:00

You know, I don't like to brag. No, really, I don't. But I'm a damn good knitter. I don't ever back down from a challenging project. I never look at a pattern & shy away because I think I can't do that. I have taken more classes than I can count. I have a ridiculously good knitting teacher that I know that I can go to when I get stuck & pay for a very reasonably priced private lesson. {Shameless plug for Alissa Barton aka Knitting Fairy who just opened a yarn shop/studio in Arlington, TX - go visit her}. So what I am I knitting with the years of knowledge & practice that I've accumulated over the past 5 years?

Yep-garter stitch washcloths. Not even a washcloth with any type of pattern. Just cast on 42 & knit knit knit. Turn & knit knit knit. I cast on the first one because my knit group was going to see Sex & the City 2 & I didn't have any idiot knitting that I could work on in the dark. So I finished the first one. Then the next night was Patrick's birthday & he wanted to go see The A Team - cast on for #2. I couldn't stop knitting them. I have a big pile of kitchen cotton in my stash because goodness knows I can't pass up yarn on sale & it goes on sale often. I think I parred it down to about 15 skeins of my favorite colors. When one was finished, I'd grab another & get to knitting. I think my last count of finished cloths was 10? I left a pile with my Mom. She will use hers for dishes; mine are for straight up washcloths.

The sad true confession? I've had to text & call friends to talk me down from hitting Walmart to buy MORE kitchen cotton. We are going to ignore the fact that I still have plenty in my stash. But those 3 balls that I secretly bought made me feel much better. (What do you want from me? I didn't have THOSE colors!)

I have no idea why I can't seem to do anything remotely complicated right now. I have two baby sweaters I need to be working on. I need to make a little critter for a swap by the end of July. I have 10ish active WIP & countless items in my queue that I want to make, but can't seem to start. I tried to cast on for a sweater & can't seem to cast on 110 stitches. No, seriously, I've had to rip out my cast on 3 times because apparently I have forgotten how to count.

I'm slowly pulling myself away from this new addiction & am working on my other mindless project - the nameless shawl. While not AS easy & mindless, it is really pretty & interesting because I keep getting to change colors. Please support me as I go through withdrawals of washcloth knitting. It will be a challenge, but I don't know anyone else that needs 17 washcloths.

Destin, FL - How Do I Love Thee?

2010-06-18T13:28:00.002-05:00

I have been totally absent from blogging because well, I've been on vacation! And getting ready to go on vacation, which I totally needed a vacation from.

Destin is perhaps one of my favorite places on earth. When I lived in Louisiana it was a really easy car drive to get to the Florida panhandle. I went there...a lot - only as an adult since my childhood beach was more of the Grand Isle variety (which I'm going to show you soon - it's hilarious). What I discovered & really enjoyed this trip was that I feel really at home there. I know where things are, I'm familiar with the restaurants, the people are incredibly nice, the food is to die for good, plus I was on vacation so it's kind of always a party. But seriously, it felt like you do when you go home. Just relaxed & comfortable & happy. See?

Patrick & I at The Back Porch. It's a tradition & we have to go every single time we are in town. We hit it on the way in because Patrick's Dad claims he doesn't like it & wants to get it over with. I sure did see him enjoying his crab fingers & grouper sandwich though - just sayin. And you have to sit on the actual back porch because here is the view from our table

And do have a Bloody Mary, because they make a really good one. And smoked tuna dip. It relaxes me & puts me straight into beach mode.

Now, I have to say it. The beach is Destin is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever set foot on. As a matter of fact, if you google "prettiest beaches" & look for some lists, it usually ranks right up there in the top 10 in the world. Usually. About 49 weeks out of the year. We happened to be there in one of the weeks where the algae was rolling in & it was.....soupy. The water was just soupy - there is no other way to describe it. I did attempt to get in the water a few days because hey, an algae spa treatment is like $200! But it was gross & I regretted that this trip couldn't be clear beaches & pretty water, particularly considering the upcoming oil slick....but I won't get into that now - I'll save it for next time. Back to the beach - here is my chair on Friday morning before the whole dang beach filled up:

(notice the algae line on the beach? Ick)

And from my chair:

See that one layer of algae on the front - then how it gets really pretty behind it? Well, my stupid scared-of-water ass tried to get out past it. I got about to my shoulders (which is really deeper than that when you account for rolling waves), got scared & ran back to shore. Never tried it again although my friend and his almost SEVEN YEAR OLD did & they were fine. Show offs (they also did parasailing, but I wasn't shucking out the $100 they wanted for the 8-10 minutes of fun in the air. Geeze).

Now for my showing off. I got a new camera & I took...let's say a lot of pictures. Or a lot for me - about 350. Usually I take under 50 so I thought that was pretty darn good. I made my friend Liz pick out my camera because she did loads of research on cameras when she bought her new one at Christmas time. Well, she looked at it & told me it had a cool fireworks setting. Well, as luck would have it, we went to a champagne party on Friday night complete with fireworks from the balcony so I got some really good pictures. I won't bore you with all of them (there are A BUNCH), but here are a few of my favorites picked very randomly.

At one point Patrick asked me if I was ENJOYING the fireworks & I told him "of course I'm not, I'm trying to get pictures of them!" Which pretty much sums up why I usually take very few pictures on vacation. When I do that I'm always sorry later that I don't have a load of great pictures. And I admit this time was more fun because I was playing with the new camera & I enjoyed it.

The whole reason we went to Destin at all is because Patrick's Dad was being sworn in as the President of the Louisiana Bar Association. It was a fun time but it was also pretty special & we are really proud of him.

(despite the lei. Although I think that proves he is both a serious yet fun person)

Then Saturday night Patrick's stepmom threw a party for family & very close friends at perhaps my favorite place to eat down there- Bud & Alley's.

Bud & Alley's isn't really in Destin, it is down the road in Santa Rosa Island. There is an upstairs open bar that is the greatest place to watch a sunset. Did you ever see The Truman Show? That was filmed in this community & it is just a great area. We have stayed there during the winter & it was a really great place to bike ride & walk around. Not to mention they have some really great shops. But back to the party. We had a great room & this was the view:

Most restaurants in this area have smoked tuna dip. I know that doesn't sound good but I'm hear to tell you - particularly at Bud & Alley's - I could eat my weight in the stuff. They serve it with these lavosh crackers* & dude, it is the best thing ever. Patrick hates mayo & he still eats it everywhere we go.

Sorry to ramble on & on about vacation. I realize this is a knitting blog but I knit exactly 8 rows on a baby sweater while I was gone. And that included airport waiting & the plane ride there & back. Or as Patrick would say "You knit those 8 rows 3 different times" I think he's a bit of a smart ass, but he's right - I did have some start issues with it. I'll tell you all about it when it looks bigger than a strip of tape.

*Disclaimer: Liz & I had a conversation about Lavosh - her mother in law makes it fresh & it's more of a bread than a cracker. Her husband is Armenian & it's a specialty there. I'm willing to wager that what Bud & Alley's isn't quite the same thing, but it's very yummy.

And the Winner is.....

2010-05-30T18:46:00.000-05:00

So today is it. The end of the contest & I'm both happy & sad. I'm a little sad that it's over but I'm happy because LOOK WHAT I HAVE:

That is 72 caps for kids in all sizes & colors. I got packages from all over the U.S. as well as from Israel & the Czech Republic. Wow.

But you really want to hear about prizes, don't you? Here is what I did today. Last night I wrote out all of the prizes on a sheet in the order they are listed on the blog post. Today I went through & counted all of the hats & made sure I had an entry for all of them. I did, which shocked the every loving heck out of me! As stuff came in I put your name on an excel spreadsheet so you had an official "number". Today I put the numbers 1-67 (that is total without the ones I knit) in the random number generator & asked it to give me 10 numbers & voila! Here is what I got.

Wollmeise Vroni goes to Manda (knitpsycho)
Brooks Farm Acero in the aqua/brown goes to Sherilyn (sherilyn)
Scentsy Warmer goes to Tera (teammom)
Handgefaerbt Merino Extra Fine Superwash in Lord of the Vampires goes to Dawn (knittinwolf)
Yarn Pirate in Hawt Pink goes to Catilin (rabbidtriangle)
A Verb For Keeping Warm Organic Worsted Merino goes to Chana (chana)
Brooks Farm Duet** goes to Amy (knitterofhats)
Prism Lace goes to Julie (passioknits)
Madeline Tosh Sock in Fjord goes to Karen (sharptalk)
Sundara Sock in That's How It Is goes to Janet (jani22)

**This prize was going to be Brooks Farm Primero in a pretty brown/ivory colorway. Well, the donator contacted me & said that someone on Ravelry PM'd her & needed that skein to finish a project. I told her that it would be ok to let her have it - I figured that every knitter understands running short on a project & well, that just seemed like the right thing to do. So she put this Brooks Farm Duet in it's place & this is what I'll be sending to Amy. And then she also donated prize #11, which I promptly forgot about.

I realized I had 11 prizes so I did the random number generator again for one more number & got:
Chana....again. I thought it was weird no one won twice, and now here we have it!
Helen's Lace in the color Sand Ridge

Now....if you didn't win anything, don't despair. I don't want anyone to feel like a total loser & honestly, you have NO IDEA how pumped I am to be able to donate 72 hats in honor of Adrianna. I am planning to send out a little something to everyone who participated. Be on the lookout - I am planning to put all prizes in the mail this week because I'm going on vacation next week. I will be contacting everyone via email or more likely, on Ravelry to let them know what they won & when their packages go out. As for the hats- now what? I'd really like to deliver them in person. I'm going to Louisiana some time in the next month or so, but we'll just see how it goes as to rather I hand deliver them or just send them out. I'll let you know.

I feel a little bit like Christmas is over or something. You know, after you do all the shopping & wrapping & then open up all the gifts & then suddenly it's over? Yeah, kind of like that!

Congrats to all of the winners & thank you again for participating.

It's Almost Time!

2010-05-26T18:31:00.001-05:00

Contest deadline is quickly approaching. I'll be doing the drawing on Sunday May 30th. Get your hats in - if you are mailing any time from today on, PLEASE let me know so I can be on the lookout for them.

I also got another prize in the mail this past week. Manda (aka knitpsycho) sent me this gorgeous skein of Sundara Sock Yarn in the colorway That's How It Is. It is so beautiful & nearly impossible to photograph in a way that flatters it best.

It's going in the prize pile along with everything else, so I will update you late Sunday on the final number of hats collected & who won what. I am so excited I am having a hard time waiting.

Stay tuned!

Thanks for the Fun Mail

2010-05-19T12:41:00.005-05:00

Do you & your spouse have mail time, or is it just us? You know, one of you goes to get the mail & comes in & says "NO BILLS!" or "All bills & nothing fun" or "This feels like yarn" (I'll let you guess which one of us says that. One of us KNOWS when it's yarn, if you know what I mean). Lately at my house it's been "hat or no hat" days. If I'm not home when Patrick gets the mail, he'll call me & say "Looks like you got hats today." It's seriously more fun than getting yarn. Well, my friend Manda sent me hats & PRIZE YARN & yarn for me, so I won't say that wasn't fun because it was. Every hat that I get lifts my spirits & renews my faith in the good of people in general. I think, "These people don't even know me & they are sending hats for my cause!" I know I have prizes and you might just win something, but that isn't how this whole thing has felt. I've gotten to chat with people I would have probably never met & hear their stories. One lady shared with me that she lost her 6 year old nephew to neuroblastoma too. I just really don't know what to say that will convey how happy these hats are making me. I know it's not about me, but I just wanted you know, it is making me happy.

A few weeks ago I started to realize that I had only made ONE hat for my very own hat drive. How horrible. Admittedly, I don't want to make a ton of hats by myself, thus the contest, but I thought I could probably contribute more than one hat. I mean, since it was my idea & all. So I pulled out this super huge skein of James Brett Marble Chunky & my Last Minute Knitted Gifts book and whipped out some cute hats.

I really like this yarn. I actually made my first sweater out of the worsted version of this yarn & then I bought this skein at Rose Path Weaving (which is a great shop, BTW, if you are ever in East Texas, Lindale specifically). These hats are really easy & I whipped these 4 out over a weekend. I hope to crank out a few more before the deadline. Or at least before I bring them/send them to New Orleans. My point being: chunky yarn + size 10 or 11 needles = lots of hats fast. So it's not too late.

Drawing is SUNDAY MAY 30, 2010. I'm not sure what time - do you care? I just know I'm heading out for vacation June 6th, so I wanted to give myself a little time to get prizes mailed out. Email me if you still need the address - time is getting short! If you mail something late, let me know so I can be sure I have it on the 30th. Email is bijouxmaster[at]gmail[dot]com.

FYI: because a few people have asked. As of today I have gotten 34 hats from others & I have made 5. I had no idea what to expect, so I think that's not too shabby!

KNIT AWAY!!!!!!!!

What the Hell?

2010-05-11T16:06:00.003-05:00

Are you kidding me? I RAN OUT OF YARN. I know you were all worried that might happen one day, you know, it's not like I have a big pile of it at my house or something. Ahem.

I decided this year that I really do want to make more socks. I'm not a huge fan of making them these days, but they sure did come in handy when the weather went below 40ish or so degrees. Usually if I cast on some fairly plain socks & carry them around with me, I will magically knit on them & before you know it, I have socks! I cast on for a pair with this gorgeous yarn. Yarntini Good to be Girl

I knit on it a little bit but I kept getting distracted, as I usually do. I was about half way down the cuff when I brought them to Spring Fling with me. I did overpack my knitting projects for Spring Fling, but mostly while I was there I knit on these socks. I finished the first one & some wise person said "Cast on #2 right this second." I really wanted to work on something else, but I did cast on for #2 & what do you know, before I knew it I was at the heel. When I was at The Loopy Ewe, I bought this cute bag made by 3am Enchantments. (I actually bought this bag because some sweet person was seriously coveting my kitty one that Amy made me & I wanted to give it to her).

I only mention this bag because I place the blame for my epic fail on this adorable bag. I transferred by yarn ball & the one finished sock & the pattern cards I was using & my stitch markers & such over to this bag & never even looked at it. And I knit on that sock & knit on that sock. I was so close to finished that I even put off other projects to get them done. And then this happened.

Yep, I flat ran out of yarn. I was totally confuzzled. I didn't make my cuffs all that long (6 inches). The yardage on the skein seemed right for socks. I know! I know! The dyer sent me a short skein. That had to be it. I was pretty self righteous about the whole thing. The total ball should be 113 grams, which is plenty enough for a pair of socks! I got home from knit night & weighed the finished sock. Shit. 60 grams. I'm pretty good at math so I knew right away that man, I SHOULD have had enough yarn, but I didn't. It was totally me. At Spring Fling my finished sock even went around the room with people saying "Wow, that's a really squishy & thick sock" & "Do you think that is going to fit in your shoes?" & "Those might end up as house socks" (which is fine with me except I think they are too pretty to only show to myself & Patrick). I guess I should have known, but I didn't. I used a larger size 1 needle (2.5mm) & I really should have used a size 2. If I had, the fabric would have been dense enough, but not nearly as dense as it is now. I also wouldn't have used up all of my yarn.

I pouted for a few days. I have plenty of scraps from other finished projects & I figured I could just use one of those. But this base really is different than anything else that I have & I love it. I hated to put some not as squishy yarn with it. Someone suggested I just get some more - yeah, it's not all that readily available so it's not like I could just scoop some up. So I emailed Jessie at Yarntini & begged to buy a little over 8 grams of yarn from her, even if it was plain white. She said she would be happy to send me some, just send her my address. Angels do exist. That is customer service. You should go buy yarn from her. Except maybe not the Port because I've been having my eye on it. (totally kidding, please save me from myself)

Spring Fling 2010 - Part 2

2010-05-04T16:15:00.001-05:00

See that light bulb? It's miniature bottle of liquor that I got at the Midwest Miniature Bottle Collectors convention that was taking place at the hotel at the same time as Spring Fling. Now, I would think this was a weird hobby, but I had to remind myself that I flew to St. Louis to a knitting retreat with a room full of strangers. Ahem. Glass houses, stones, and all that jazz. PS - the lady I bought it from told me not to drink it because it's very old. Thanks for the tip.

I bought that bottle because, well, that's exactly how I felt after my 2 classes on Saturday. Particularly the Sweater Fitness Workshop with Anne Hanson. I'm going to swallow my pride & post this not very flattering picture of me with Anne because, well, it's a picture of me with Anne Hanson. Those lights were none too kind to either of us.

I really really try not to be a fan girl to any of the "knitting rockstars" because well, I imagine it gets pretty old for them. And I will admit that while I think Anne's patterns are beautiful, I don't faithfully stalk her blog or know all of her patterns on sight or anything. But DAMN, this woman is a genius. After I signed up for this class & saw that we were doing measurements & such I thought "why am I taking this same damn class AGAIN????" This is the third class I've taken on how to properly measure yourself & design / make a sweater for your shape. But you know, I still am not getting it right so I thought surely I could learn something & well, one day I'd like to not be frustrated with my finished sweater. I was really excited about it & I swear I spent the whole class nodding because everything she said made so much sense. I've tried to explain to people what I learned & when I try to explain it everything that comes out of my mouth sounds so obvious that I can't believe I didn't think of it myself. Anne gave us 7-8 areas of fit that I had just never thought of before. I don't know how to explain it other than to say if you are frustrated with failed sweaters, take this class! You know how sometimes you take a class & it's totally over your head? Or you take a class & you think "yeah, I know this." Well, I think I am at the exact skill level for this class to make perfect sense. I have made enough sweaters (10ish) & have had enough fit problems that I was ready to hear all of the material that was taught. Fingers crossed that this works for me.

The other thing I decided in that class that instead of deciding to do X sweater in Z yarn, I am going to swatch the yarn until I get a fabric that I like & THEN chose the pattern. I think I try so hard to force yarn/pattern combinations that just will never work. I also decided to frog October Frost. SHUT UP!!!!!! It's just never going to fit & I need to accept it & move on.

My second class was Two Handed Knitting, Forward & Backwards with Gryphon Perkins of The Sanguine Gryphon yarn fame. Wow. That's all I can say. My favorite part of the class is when she told us that you could knit lace forward & backwards without turning your work & a student said "I could never do that." Gryphon promptly said "Actually, you are going to do it in about 15 minutes." I cracked up. She made us do stuff that I think none of us ever dreamed of doing or thought that we COULD do. It was interesting & although I doubt I'll be knitting forward & backward without turning my work on a regular basis, I think it will come in handy for certain things.

Gryphon is about the cutest person I've ever seen & she was sweet to boot. Here is a picture of her showing me a different way that I could wear my Aeolian. Yeah, I think perhaps she could pull that off, me, not so much.

Other teachers at the Spring Fling included Wendy Johnson & Jared Flood. I was really torn on which classes to take, but I have taken classes with both Wendy & Jared before. I took some socks classes with Wendy at the Knit Out in Guthrie, OK & I took Jared's Seamless Sweater Workshop at my LYS, The Woolie Ewe. All of the classes got rave reviews & it was a stellar line up.

Sigh. I'm so sad it's all over. I wanna go back again right now! I'm so inspired to knit so many things that I don't even know where to start.

Spring Fling 2010 - Part 1

2010-04-29T21:59:00.001-05:00

Wow. I don't even really know what to say. I had the most fabulous time with a pile of people that I had never even met before that I can't even express it right! I met Beth, the first Spring Flinger at the airport in Dallas - little did I know that it would be the first of so many great women all weekend. I got there & even walking out of the airport I saw a knitter with a bag under her arm knitting a sock & I thought "this is what real life should look like." From that moment until I got home Monday, every moment was spent around other people just as obsessed about knitting & yarn as I am. Not only that, but I could go into any restaurant, store, bar, etc & there were MORE knitters - people that didn't mind if I just plopped down at their table & joined them. I think that was my favorite part - that everyone welcomed just one more person to join the circle & hang out. How refreshing.

But really you just wanted to hear about the stuff, don't you?

Here is the goodie bag:

It rocked. And included a skein of Wollmeise Femme Fatale colorway that Claudia dyed just for this package. I was so sad that the ash from the volcano kept her from coming from Germany. I sooooo wanted to meet her & the other ladies that couldn't make it.

Thursday night the fabulous plazajen organized a newbie dinner because her first year she ate alone & it made her sad to think that someone else would have that experience. There were 63 of us and I must admit, my first thought was "clusterfuck". I mean, no way that would go well, but I have to say, they handled it with ease. I heard some people say that the service was slow as we expected, & I thought, Really? I didn't notice at all. I was talking to the most fascinating woman. I loved hearing about her life in a rural area of New York. She had so many questions about life in Texas & the South in general - and you know I love telling stories. I think we were both surprised about what life is like in areas were we have never visited. Then we went to the dessert reception. I found my swap partner Suzanne & she was AWESOME. I swear we have the exact same taste in yarn & I was relieved to know we wouldn't be going on the same shopping trip to Loopy Central. Cause I wouldn't want to have to take her out, seriously. This is what she got me:

Holy crap it was awesome! I want to do another swap with her pronto.

During the dessert reception I had a moment of clarity. I asked "what do we do now?" Everyone looked at me a little crazy & said "YOU JUST KNIT". Oh. I see. We just knit. It was the best thing I ever heard. I have been to quite a few big knitting events. Some smaller & closer to home, some larger & far away, but never has it been WE JUST SIT & KNIT. It was refreshing & I was really relieved. So I just sit & knit. And talked. And knit & talked.

If I had to participate in the Groundhog day phenomenon & live one day over & over & over, Friday would have been a really good day for that. Friday morning I was part of the first group to go to Loopy Central. HOLY CRAP. I have been to a crazy number of yarn shops. I have a really big & fabulous LYS called The Woolie Ewe. Often when we travel & I come back from a shop I'll look at Patrick and shrug - I mean, I'm pretty spoiled & it takes a lot to impress me. Color me impressed.

THIS IS ALL DREAM IN COLOR STARRY!

My new friends Elizabeth & Kim in front of the Cascade wall

More yarn (I hated my pictures in front of the loopy wall - I wish I had spent more time getting them right!)

More yarn!

AND MORE FREAKING YARN!

I got this:

I actually think I displayed some huge self restraint. I also didn't have much time to save for the shopping part & I kept trying to tell myself that I can order whatever I want later. Sigh. I could have filled my house with yarn from this place.

Friday afternoon I had down time to JUST SIT & KNIT. And meet new people. I was quite the table jumper - I wanted to meet absolutely everyone though I admit on Sunday morning at breakfast I looked around & found more people I hadn't talked to & even more that I hadn't even seen! Insane.

Friday my Loopy really started acting up. Apparently Sheri has said that some Loopy's are very well behaved but some are naughty. One lady told a story about how she got one & on the way to her house he ate all of her hersheys kisses! When her package got there there were only empty wrappers & her daughter thought that was pretty mean. I laughed about that so much! Well, mine is naughty too. It may have something to do with the fact that I think I'm the only grown woman to carry around a stuffed sheep all weekend, but my Loopy got into an awful lot of trouble & there is photographic evidence to prove it. My new friends said it could be because I let him share in the flask & that makes me a pretty bad Loopy mamma, but whatever.

Loopy's yarn barf

Loopy needed some rest too

You can see more of Loopy behaving badly at the following blogs:
Carolina
Kimberly
He's quite the character but he must be worn out because I haven't had much trouble out of him since we got home. Maybe he's scared of the cats.

I will come back & talk about the classes. So much to say!!!!

New contest prize

2010-04-26T19:32:00.002-05:00

While I sort out the 784 things going through my head about this weekend I just wanted to give you a quick look at a new prize I added for the contest. Madeline Tosh - Tosh Sock in Fjord. Yum

I have to be perfectly honest. I was feeling kind of bad because I had intentions of buying some Tosh Sock as a prize at DFW Fiber Fest. I was tired & well, I guess selfish because I made 2 trips to the Madeline Tosh booth. I bought some for me. Some quite honestly I'm not sharing with ya'll! So I put that on my list for Loopy central because they have a big pile of it. AND I FORGOT AGAIN! In my defense, I was staying far far away from that area because I had bought my fair share & didn't want to be tempted. I asked Jen (one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met!) to bring me something pretty. Boy did she deliver. It's gorgeous & squishy .......I can't figure out why I didn't buy any for MMMMEEEEEEEE. I almost kept it. Man, that would have been wrong & I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night. Of course, that would give me more time to knit it up, wouldn't it???

Just a reminder - May 30th deadline, we are approaching the one month point. Get to knitting if you've been putting it off. What I have gotten already is highly appreciated & all so stinking cute!

Off to the Land of Loopy

2010-04-21T07:00:00.002-05:00

In case you are unaware, there is this ridiculously good online shop called The Loopy Ewe. Sheri Berger, the owner, has done a great job of picking out the top tier yarn in the industry & stocking her shop full of it. She has a great reputation for working with & supporting indie dyers, along with carrying some great commercial lines. If my local LYS doesn't carry a yarn, The Loopy Ewe is where I go to shop. I know I am not alone in feeling like this is my LYS away from home.

Several years ago Sheri put together the first Spring Fling, a retreat where customers could gather to meet, knit, take classes from first rate instructors, and shop at the brick & mortar version of our favorite online store. It is a wildly popular retreat & it has grown even more popular over the past few years. So much so that entry into the fling is decided by lottery. This past December I threw my name into the hat rather thoughtlessly thinking it would be cool to get in, but not counting on it in any way. I got notice a few weeks later that unfortunately I didn't get in & to be honest, I put it out of my mind & never gave it another thought. Until......

...the second week of March I got an email from Sheri saying that I had been on the 2nd wait list & enough people had dropped out that if I wanted to go that I was in. YIKES! I was leaving for Disney in less than a month & really, the last thing I needed to be doing was is running off to St. Louis for a knitting retreat. Without knowing a soul. But.....

Teachers include Anne Hanson, Gryphon Perkins, Wendy Johnson, and Jared Flood. I mean, seriously??? First let me say that I am a total fan girl & I'm a firm believer in taking classes from people you admire. And that know more than you. Which is like a way lot of people. Then I looked at who else would be attending, and that list looked pretty fun as well. Honestly, though, you really had me at Anne Hanson.

I tossed it around in my head & made a half hearted mention to Patrick. He said what he always says, "GO." God I love that man. Easy for him to say because I handle our finances & had to pull the money out of my ass. So I did, or rather from Uncle Sam. Patrick had enough miles to get me a free ticket. Oh my hell, the stars kind of lined up for me to go. So I am going. Tomorrow.

I have 2 great classes:
Sweater Fitness Workshop with Anne Hanson (can you see my happy dance?)
Two-handed Knitting, Backwards and Forwards with Gryphon Perkins

Wow. and wow. I am so excited I could just scream. Wish me luck with keeping my sanity when I take my trip to Loopy Central. Because that's where the real damage is!

They are SO hilarious.

2010-04-13T16:29:00.001-05:00

So I told you that I'd have stories from Disney World & figured they would be knitting related in some way. I have to tell you, from the time I left the airport until I got back home I didn't even touch a knitting needle. Well, I did, but only to show my nieces my socks that I am knitting. So no poking Goofy. It would have been funny though!

I could tell 100 funny stories, seriously, because my sister's kids are the bomb. I won't bore you to death, but I thought maybe I'd do quotable quotes bullet point style by child. Ready? ok. Here are the kids so you can see how stinking cute they are. Jordyn is 11 years old & has on the silver sparkly ears (don't know where she gets that from!) & Laken is 8 years old & is in the pink fuzzy ears with the tiara. The ears are very fitting. Just sayin.

Jordyn:
* When I saw her at the airport "The plane ride wasn't nearly as bad as last time. It was so good that I think I might go on the plane back too."
* After riding the Star Wars ride "Where was the fun? I missed it?"
* "Aunt Tasha, if somebody else give you a baby, can I hold it?" A little background - this was hours after the ride on the bus one morning - I offered my seat to a family & the mom said they were fine but jokingly asked if I wanted to hold the baby. I said SURE! So I did. Imagine the looks on Jordyn's face when she looked up & said "Aunt Tasha, where did you get that baby?"
* We talked a lot about the fireworks show at Epcot & how much that must cost every night. On Friday we were riding past parking lots & saying how much it cost to park if you drive. Without missing a beat Jordyn said "I bet that's where they get all of the money for the fireworks." And she doesn't even have an MBA from Harvard.

Laken:
* "I don't understand why they call it a runway. There isn't anybody running on it."
* "Everybody is happy in Disney."
* Declared both It's a Bugs Life & Honey I Shrunk the Audience as "absolutely horrible" - she hates the 3D shows, but there is something hilarious about an 8 year old saying stuff is "absolutely horrible." She has vowed never to enter another show that involves "those glasses"
* After riding Rockin Roller Coaster - "I didn't like it at all, I LOVED IT!"
* "I'm trying to get over my fears so I have to go on it." About riding a scary ride- I can't remember which one right now.

Notable quotes from the rest of us:
Stacey - "I'm in the happiest place on earth, I'm not going to be in pain!"
Mom - (upon me coming out of the shop in my leopard print ears) "She's going to grow up one day."
Me - (upon wearing said leopard ears for about 15 minutes) - "I think these might be sized for small children." (hates to admit Mom might be right AGAIN)
My favorite Disney themed tshirt worn by some random Dad at Magic Kingdom - "I'm Grumpy because you're Dopey"

Maybe my favorite story is that on the last night we went to the Fantasmic! show (which, btw, is maybe my favorite part of the trip & you must must go if you've never seen it). At the end of the show a boat comes out & it has every character you can imagine on it. Seriously, like everybody. So when we were walking out, Laken proclaimed that she was very worried about Daisy because there had been a lack of Daisy all week, AND she wasn't on the boat (I did not notice, but my sister said she looked for her too because she was sitting by Laken & never saw her either). Laken is terribly concerned that maybe they have fired Daisy. My sister said maybe she was at home with Huey, Dewey, & Louie. Laken said that maybe DONALD should be home with them & DAISY should be at Disney World. She wanted to ask somebody, but we assured her that the guy selling light up ears from a cart probably didn't know anything about Daisy's fate. So she said she is going to write a letter. And she asked if she could sign my name to it too. I said sure, knock yourself out. It's just the funniest thing I've ever heard. She's really for real concerned about it too! And in all fairness, we didn't see much of Daisy.

Let me leave you with perhaps my favorite picture of Cinderella's castle EVER. My sister took this when we hit the park on Friday at 7am - the weather was that ugly. Cool picture though.

And me with Chip n Dale

WHHHHAAAAAA! I want to be back there right now!

The Happiest Place on Earth

2010-04-07T07:00:00.003-05:00

Hi, you have reached Tasha. I'm not here right now, I'm in Disney World with my Mom, sister & nieces. We are surely having a ball & don't really want to talk to you right now. Tune in next week when I hope to regale you with stories like "I poked Goofy with a knitting needle & lived to tell about it" & "no, I'm not a mouse, why do you ask?" Or not. Either way, I'm sure I'll have a little something to say about it.

I should be writing about how I finished that sweater....

2010-03-31T09:34:00.001-05:00

but I'm not. Well, I technically did finish Vesper that I talked about a few weeks ago. Notice that "technically" that I threw in there? Because the knitting really is done - I just have to weave in ends from 14 balls of yarn. In linen. In the round, so not in some inconspicuous side seams. Sigh. It's cute though, and I might actually wear it one day. I think I'm going to bring it to my knit group tonight so my friends can beat me down until I do the finishing on it.

But what I am going to talk about is the contest. I'm terribly excited when people ask me about it or tell me they have stuff to send me. It's amazing how small the internet makes the world & how supportive people from all corners of the world are.

Look at what is coming my way:

Sherilyn whipped this hat out (and if you visit her blog you will see the cutest little girl ever!)

Deedee from California (knitnurd on Ravelry) asked about where to send hat so I went poking around in her projects & found this hat that she made for the contest:

I love this hat & actually have this book - I hadn't even thought about it. I might have to make one because it looks like such fun!

So contest details here, still plenty of time - I won't be doing the prize drawing until May 30. Thank you everyone for your support - it really means a lot to me!

Does This Pattern Really Exist?

2010-03-24T07:00:00.016-05:00

In a time that we can find anything we ever wanted to see (& lots of things that we never wanted to see on the internet), I find myself in uncharted territory. I'm knitting something that doesn't exist. There are no pictures on the pattern. There are no pictures on the internet. There is no mention of this pattern on Ravelry. There is no "designer" listed on the pattern, no copyright notes. So does it even really exist?

Well, I know for a fact that it does because I saw it in the wild. I bought this kit when I went to Stitches East in October last year. I was in the Ruhama's / Isager Knit booth & I saw a woman walking around wearing The.Prettiest.Shawl. I asked her about it & she said "I just bought the last kit" really snotty like. I was kind of sad but figured it was fate that I didn't get the last kit & moved on. Kinda. I kept thinking about it. It was just SO pretty. It would go with EVERYTHING. It was simple and classic. I thought about it for days. I finally went & asked one of people manning the booth about it & they would be happy to ship me a kit as soon as they got home. HOORAY!

When I got the kit the next week I was so excited to see the pattern & remember what it looked like but...yeah, no picture, but I was ok with that. It did have a name, Sangre de Cristo Shawl. Last Tuesday night at about 11:30pm I had a burning desire to cast on for this shawl. (Don't ask me why I do this to myself but I have to tell you, every single time that happens I am so happy that I have a huge stash of yarn, swift/ball winder, & tons of needles at my house.) I started this shawl & now...I'm totally addicted. Wednesday I drug it with me to two knitting meet ups (yes, Wednesday is a really rough day for me, why do you ask?) and I had people asking me loads of questions about it.

* What are you making? Where is the picture? What do you mean you don't have a picture?
* But where can I find it online?
* Did you look for it on Ravelry (because seriously, every pattern known to knitters everywhere is on Ravelry, right? Apparently not.)
* But what is it going to look like?
* If it's a shawl shouldn't you be doing some increases or something?

It's like knitting a mystery shawl that isn't a mystery to me! It's a mystery to everybody else. It's a fun experience & I honestly can't believe how spoiled we have gotten to just pull up pictures on the internet or phone or put pictures on a blog. I have to assume that pre-internet there wasn't immediate information about every knitting pattern known to man. It's a new experience for me & for everyone I am knitting around. So here's a peek at what it looks like.

Now it's my personal mission to get this thing finished so it will exist in the world. And then everyone will know how beautiful & will have no doubt as to why I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.

Sometimes knitting makes we want to cry.

2010-03-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

For whatever reason I became completely obsessed with making this Vesper sweater:

Flickr Photo used with permission of pipibird

I bought this Linen Isle on clearance with absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it.

This yarn/pattern combination kept haunting me so I decided to go for it. I printed out the pattern, got out my yarn & needles, & knit a swatch. So far so good. Then I started reading the pattern. Cast on 432 stitches. Wow. And one Ravelry user had done some mods that I wanted to incorporate which called for that to be a provisional cast on. Wow. I almost just put the whole thing down & said forget it right there. But you know, I'm supposed to be pushing myself to learn new things this year, so I wanted to just go for it. I found a video at the Knitting at Knoon website & decided that was the easiest way for me. I sat through a 2 hour movie and STILL hadn't cast on all of those stitches. I just went with it until it was over & you know, it wasn't all that bad. This is definitely an easier method than other things I have tried. Now the issue is that I had 432 stitches on my needles & other than some short rows, I needed to knit all 432 of those stitches for quite while. So I did. And then I realized that I made a ridiculous stupid mistake - I hadn't done my short rows long enough & it wasn't going to be right. I re-read the pattern shaking my head wondering how in the world I didn't see the obvious instructions on that piece of paper!

There are 2 schools of thought on making a knitting project. Some people think you should read through each detail of the pattern & know what you are doing. Some people think you should never read ahead because it will just confuse you & you have to trust the process. I had read nothing but great things about how clever this pattern was so when I read ahead a little & it made no sense, I didn't trust myself. I told myself to just trust the process & when I got to the next part it would make sense. You know what? I'm a pretty smart cookie & I should have known. I should have trusted my gut when it looked like something was wrong. No, the pattern wasn't wrong, but the next step didn't match up with my fabric. Because I SCREWED UP THE KNITTING PART. One day I'm going to believe that I do kinda know what I'm doing & not continue down the path that leads to frogging all of my work!

I ripped back 10 inches of knitting 432 stitches & started over. Now I'm about 3 inches from being done with the body, I need to add a little length to the sleeves, and then knit the pleats around the neckline. I am really really hoping to have this finished so I can wear it to Disneyworld when I go on April 5th. I'd love to have a picture with Mickey and/or Minnie wearing something I knitted! How cool would that be?

Stay tuned.

Contest Time Q&A - Headquarters & up to date prizes HERE.

2010-03-14T17:08:00.009-05:00

A few people have asked me some questions about the contest so I thought I'd put them here. I'm also going to keep listing the up-to-date prizes on this post, so check back often - I keep getting new stuff!

Tell me the details again, please.
Knit chemo caps in any child's size to be donated to Children's Hospital in New Orleans in memory of Adrianna Cavanaugh. Email me at bijouxmasteratgmaildotcom & I will send you an address to mail your finished hats. Your name will go into a drawing for each hat donated. Drawing will be held May 30, 2010.

Do I have to use one of the patterns from your queue?
Absolutely not! Use whatever pattern you want or make up your own. I just know I get stuck sometimes & need a push in the right direction.

I'm not a knitter, I'm a crocheter. Will you accept crocheted hats?
Yes, please crochet some adorable hats.

What kind of yarn should I use?
Again, I really don't care what kind of yarn you use, but it needs to be something really soft & preferably machine washable. Some yarns that I like for this purpose (but you don't have to use these!):
Berroco Comfort
Rowan Calmer
Caron Simply Soft
Berroco Pure Merino or Pure Merino DK
Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in any weight
Fiesta Yarns Boomerang
Rowan Classic Cashsoft - any weight
Lorna's Laces Worsted or DK
This is just an example of yarns I had in my stash that would work.

What are you going to do with the hats if you get more than Children's Hospital in New Orleans needs?
Well, I hope I have this problem. If I do, I will check withe Sloan Kettering which is another hospital where Adrianna spent a good deal of her time after her diagnosis. If I have more than they need, then I will check with local hospitals here in the Dallas area or send them to St. Jude - another favorite charity of mine. They will be distributed wherever there is a need! Send them on & I'll be sure they are put to good use.

Can I podcast / blog / post in my Rav group about your contest?
Yes, please do! The more the merrier - I'd love to be swamped with hats. You can email me or leave me a comment if you do just because I'm curious & will go check it out.

I really don't like to knit hats. Do I have to knit something to win?
Well, I thought about this one & you know what? If you'd prefer to make a donation to one of the charities that are special to the Cavanaugh family, I'm good with that. Your name will go into the drawing for every $10 donation you make to one of the following organizations:
http://www.bandofparents.org/
Band of Parents Foundation
PO Box 335
Dewittville, NY 14728

or to
Children's Hospital, New Orleans, LA
Forward your receipt to my email & I will put your name in the hat. So to speak.

Are you knitting hats too?
Yes, in between all my other knitting I will be knitting as many as I can crank out. And for those of you that know me best - no, I'm not going to put my name in the drawing, though I'd like to because my prizes rock. (you know you were wondering!)

What can I win?
The ever changing prize corner

Wollmeise in the Vroni colorway

OR

Brooks Farms Acero in this great color - 2 skeins.

OR

My sweet friend Dawn (of Knit Naturally Podcast fame & texaspurlgurl on Ravelry) has generously donated a Scentsy Full Sized System - you get a full sized warmer of your choice & 3 Scentsy bars. If you haven't tried Scentsy yet, it is a wickless candle system & I love mine to pieces. Go check it out.

OR

Handgefaerbt Merino Extra Fine Superwash in Lord of the Vampires

Graciously donated by Liz (aka happytexan) & I seriously want to steal this one, but I won't. I mean, she won't give it to me. LOL

OR

Yarn Pirate in Hawt Pink

Graciously donated by Dawn (aka texaspurlgurl)

OR

A Verb For Keeping Warm Organic Worsted Merino

Graciously donated by my friend Lyn (aka downwarddogfbrs)

OR

Brooks Farm Primero

Graciously donated by my friend Lyn (aka downwarddogfbrs)

OR
Prism Custom Dyed Lace Wool

Generously donated by Sherilyn aka Sherilyn on Ravelry.

OR
Madeline Tosh, Tosh sock in Fjord. Yum. Bought this at The Loopy Ewe this weekend.

I will be giving them all away to different people based on a random number generator.

If you have any other questions, email me or put it in the comments.
Knit on!

Contest time!

2010-03-10T23:56:00.004-06:00

I'm having a contest!
Want to know what you are going to win? Well, YARN of course. Some fantabulous yarn. There will be as many drawings as I have prizes for and I can't give you a final number because no telling what I'll come up with by the deadline. These will be given away for sure.

Wollmeise in the Vroni colorway

Brooks Farms Acero in this great color - 2 skeins.

(my disclaimer is that I am only giving this up because I will see them in April & this gives me a good excuse to buy more. Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE this yarn. Just sayin.)

My sweet friend Dawn (of Knit Naturally fame & texaspurlgurl on Ravelry) has generously donated a Scentsy Full Sized System - you get a full sized warmer of your choice & 3 Scentsy bars. If you haven't tried Scentsy yet, it is a wickless candle system & I love mine to pieces. Go check it out.

Here's what I want you to do. I am collecting chemo caps to send to Childrens Hospital in New Orleans in honor of my cousin's daughter Adrianna. You can read her story HERE. Bring your kleenex if you want to visit the site, but it really is an amazing story & this little girl touched so many lives in her short stay on this earth that it's unbelievable. That's really all I want to say about that.

I will be focusing on toddler sized caps, but you are welcome to knit any size hat that would be useful at a children's hospital. If you aren't sure what to knit & want some ideas, you can visit my Ravelry queue & I have a tab labeled "adrianna" with 20ish patterns in there (Tasha's queue). I link that but I don't want to hear any crap about how many patterns I have queued OR how anal I am about organizing it. Incidentally, I also have a tab labeled "chemo" if you ever want to stalk my queue for chemo caps in general. Or any other category, really.

What do you need to do? You can email me at bijouxmasteratgmaildotcom & let me know that you have hats to donate. I will send you an address to mail them to. Then, on May 30, 2010 I will have a drawing . Your name will go into a drawing for every hat you send me between now & then.

That's about it! You can email me questions or leave them in the comments. Get to knitting!

ETA: Just visited the site to make sure the link is working & realized that the day I posted this is exactly to the day 1 year since Adrianna was admitted to the hospital & they discovered her Neuroblastoma. This was pure accident if you believe in coincidence I suppose.

Olympic Fail - kinda

2010-03-02T14:00:00.000-06:00

I had really high hopes for the Knitting Olympics this year. For those of you who don't know, Knitting Olympics or Ravelympics is an event started by the Yarn Harlot for the 2006 Olympic games. The premise is to chose a challenging project, cast on during the opening ceremonies, finish before the end of the 17 days of the Winter Olympics.
This year I decided to work on my languishing Works in Progress because well, I had a pile of them, as you know since I bared my soul last month. In the meantime I dealt with a bunch of them, but I wanted to work on a few of them using a "balls to the wall" approach. Sigh. My plans have been foiled once again & I'll tell you why.

Triple S Shawl
I'm using this yarn:

My intention when I chose these colors was to go against what are really safe color combinations for me. This was a stretch but I really like it & I was excited to see how it turned out. I finished one strip of the shawl & I just have to say it - I don't like the brown & green skein mixed into the shawl. It actually has some orange tones in it & I really really don't care for orange. Everyone who has seen it assures me it is pretty so I thought I could push through. I got about six more squares in & just came to the point where I know I won't be happy with it. Brooks Farm will be at DFW Fiber Fest in April, so I figured I'll bring what I have up there & try to find another color that I'll be happy with it. I put it to rest so guess what? Disqualified. No medal.

Noni Adventure Bag

This stupid bag. I put this down sometime in 2007 because my yarn was all tangled up. What a wimp! I literally only had to knit the i-cord handle, felt the thing, then do the finishing. I finished the handle in like an hour on the first day of the olympics. I needed to do the felting & have read that you really should put it in a zippered pillow case so that your washer doesn't get clogged up. I wanted to take that step because well, I can't really have my washer screwed up right now. So it took me about a week to get around to going to Big Lots & finding a washable sham that would work. Have I felted it yet? Hell no. Don't ask me why - it's like I have a huge mental block about this. Check with me in a few years - maybe I'll have it done by then. (or maybe after the olympics as I seem to be rebelling against the deadline). Disqualified. No medal.

Not So Striped Tee
This is the best picture I have of the way the yarn was knitting up.

I put this down because I was honestly just bored. I picked it back up & knit about 4 rows on it then decided I needed to have a little talk with myself. Would I honestly wear this sweater? I like the sweater. I like the yarn. I wasn't really a fan of them together. The yarn was striping a little more than I wanted it to, and I seriously don't need any horizontal stripes across my stomach area. This yarn is great & I love it, but I think it is better suited for a shawl in this colorway.

This is actually how far along I was on it - sorry for the crappy photo. I couldn't find my camera when I decided to tear it out but needed to click a quick picture for the committee.

So I tore it out & ended up with this:

I really consider this a fail because I didn't end up with a sweater. BUT......it did qualify for the Aerial Unwind event in the Ravelympics, so the act of tearing it out earned me this:

HOORAY! I love a semi-happy ending.

Ophelia
This was a sweater that I started in March 2008. I never thought I would wear this the way it was written since I'm not much of a vest-ish person. I figured I could just add some sleeves & it would be a great spring sweater to wear over sun dresses & such (you know, since I wear sun dresses so often). Well, I finished the sweater nearly as written. The only change I made when I was knitting the body was to not do the gathered shoulder - I just did a 3 needle bind off which made the shoulder seam pretty long. To be honest, I just didn't know how to approach adding sleeves. I got stuck & put it down for nearly 2 years. There really was not much actual knitting left to do, it was just a matter of sitting down with it & figuring out how to add some type of sleeve that would look good. And I needed to do something about the fronts that were curling like crazy.

I brought my problem child to the smartest woman I know, Alissa Barton (aka Knitting Fairy) and she helped me out. For the curling she had me crochet all the way around the front & when that didn't fix it, I did a reverse double crochet around again. That took for-freakin-ever because I'm a sucky & slow crocheter. She also gave me some advice on picking up for the sleeves. Well, let me tell you, that crocheting was a cake walk compared to the trouble I had with the sleeves. I pulled them out..oh, I don't know...probably 3 times? It was like Goldilocks - too many stitches, not enough stitches, just right stitches but the pattern looked like ass. I finally settled on stockinette sleeves edged with the lace rib pattern that is at the bottom of the sweater.

I'm not entirely happy with the sleeve length - I had hoped that there was enough yarn for me to do do 3/4 length of long sleeves. Somewhere in the past 2 years I wised up to the fact that I likely won't be throwing this on over a sun dress & that a cotton long sleeve sweater in Texas would be useful. I went so far as to weigh the yarn I had left & figured I would knit sleeve #1 until I was half way, then knit the other. It hits me right below the elbow, which I suppose is acceptable, but I'd still prefer it to be longer. Here she is in all her glory:

I thought about adding one button at the bust, but for now I'm going to operate under the assumption that I can use a sweater clip to keep it closed.
Ophelia earned me this medal:

After I realized that some of my projects weren't working out, it seemed that I was going to have more time to work on a new project. I had been really stalking these colorwork mittens:
Deep in the Forest Mittens
I had some yarn in my stash that I thought would work for them

Well, as it turns out, that ivory yarn was too thick. I also had some ivory cashmere in my stash & I tried to use that. Yeah, that didn't work out either. So new last minute entry: Disqualified. No medal.

What I learned about myself is really what I already knew. I really don't like knitting on a deadline & I rebel against time lines. This is my hobby & is supposed to be fun - this go round I wasn't having fun. I did start something new I'll talk about another day & I'm happy to say that I only spent about a week in no-fun knitting land. It's good to be back to normal.

We interupt this knitting blog....

2010-02-23T07:30:00.004-06:00

to bring a cute baby picture.

This is where I'll be this week - in Austin visiting my friend Suzanne & her baby Annabelle. This is a shrug that I made for her & proof of why I'll knit her anything her heart desires. A fun baby knit, an appreciative mom & a cute baby to show it off. Win win win.

How I Got My Sock Mojo Back

2010-02-17T07:30:00.003-06:00

I have 5 drawers like this. This one is full (except for that one sock in the very bottom right hand corner that we aren't going to talk about). I think it's so pretty. Is it wrong that I'm on a mission to fill my lingerie drawers with hand knitted socks?

What?

2010-02-10T07:30:00.006-06:00

I DO NOT have socks just like these that I'm making. Why do people keep asking me that?

Clearly they are very different.

All About Kay

2010-02-03T07:30:00.002-06:00

Last year I knit the Autumn Pi Shawl for my mother in law for her birthday.

Dawn found it from new patterns on Ravelry & it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. A pi shawl, leaves, pretty. I was the first project on Ravelry other than the designer and I will admit that made me very nervous. I usually like for many other people to knit a pattern first so they can work out the kinks in it before I jump in. But I was knitting on a deadline for a gift & I couldn't find anything else that fit the bill as nicely as this one. I jumped in with both feet & despite some issues with my yarn (that Dream in Color sure is pretty stuff but NO dye lots & much variation between skeins), I knit this sucker up & could barely wait the month or so I had to for it to be her birthday. She absolutely loved it, cried when I gave it to her & hey, to me, that's an appropriate response for this shawl. I almost cried when I gave it to her too.

You know how sometimes you knit a pattern & you just "get it"? I love when I click with a designer's pattern writing style & can follow where they are going with it. That's what happened to me with this pattern. I was really impressed with the well written directions (both charted & written) & I started chatting with the designer, Kay Meadors, online. She was absolutely lovely & I started following her designs. I immediately put a few more in my ever growing queue - not the least of which is A Piece of Pi. Looks easy, fun, very pretty, extremely wearable. So much so that I cast on for it this week.

So imagine my excitement when Kay contacted me last week to see if I was interested in test knitting her new design, Notes of Lyra. She let me steal this picture from her:

You can see more about it in this blog post.

I'm making the larger size with beads. In the spirit of my "don't save the good yarn for the pope" rule for 2010, I'm using this Madeline Tosh silk. Yum.

I'll let you know how it goes. So far I knit about 17 rows & don't really love the needles I'm using, so I'm off to get some Addi lace needles today & I think I'm going to start over. More time spent with this yarn will not hurt my feelings.

A Sad Tale of Woe

2010-01-27T08:00:00.004-06:00

or....that seriously didn't just happen, did it? It's been over a month & I've just gotten to the point that I can talk about this. At the beginning of October I cast on for the Featherweight Cardigan. I knit it in black Malabrigo lace weight. Just to get this straight, that is a full grown, not so small woman sized sweater knit in lace weight yarn. That's itty bitty yarn for those of you who don't know. Black is also notoriously the hardest to work with because it's really difficult to see & read your stitches. I honestly didn't know what the big deal with the black yarn was until I knit this sweater, then I totally got it.

I am in a group on Ravelry that challenges you to finish projects in a certain time frame & I entered this project into that challenge. One of my worst qualities as a knitter is that if I get bored I often stop knitting on that project & it goes into that graveyard I showed you a few weeks ago. I figured this was a perfect candidate for that fate because the knitting was totally boring & there was A LOT of it. I was really proud of myself because I pushed through so that I could finish in time & I only knitted on this thing off & on for 2 months. I took a terrible cell phone photo to prove I finished it for my challenge:

I know that picture is crappy, but it was perfect. Classic. Black. Boring. I could see myself grabbing it up on my way out the door many, many days. It was literally the first sweater that I put on after I was done & immediately loved it. I usually am so sick of looking at a sweater that I made that it takes me until the next season to really like it.

It really did need to be washed & blocked to some extent so I put it to the side to do that whenever I got around to it.

Fast forward a few weeks as I'm packing for Christmas. I was doing laundry & needed my black pants, a black sweater, etc etc. So I went around the house & gathered all of the blacks clothes that needed to be washed....do you see where this is going? After the washer stopped I was pulling clothes out to put them in the dryer & my hand hit....my featherweight sweater. I knew it the second I touched it but I couldn't believe it was true. I pulled it out & kept trying to get my brain to register what I had just done. no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no. Oh yeah. I did wash it in cold water but with all of the other clothes in there, it just wasn't good. I put it on thinking maybe it wasn't that bad. Patrick said it now looked like a stripper sweater. The fronts shrunk quite a bit in width & the length, which I had made purposely longer but was still a little too short, shrunk bunches. I know directions for felting claim that you need heat AND friction, but I'm here to tell you that in this case friction was all it took. I knew the whole time I was knitting it that if I made a mistake there was no way to tear it out because this yarn REALLY likes itself. When I was picking up the stitches for the button band it had kind of felted together a little & I had to pull it apart. So it didn't take much for it to felt I guess.

This all happened 2 days before I left for the holidays & vacation, so I honestly haven't looked at the damage at any length. It's just....too painful. I loved it & I want another one, but it's going to have to wait until I can bear to think about it. Even though I loved the fabric the Malabrigo made (not to mention how reasonably priced it was), I think it's too prone to felting for me to do it in that yarn again back to back. Maybe a silk blend or something.

May this be a lesson to you all so you don't have to go through that!

Most Used Objects of 2009

2010-01-20T08:00:00.009-06:00

Since I figured out how to make shawls work in my normal wardrobe this year, I thought I'd tell you about the things I made this year that have gotten a lot of wear & why.

Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl
Yarn: 2 skeins of Noro Kuyeron Sock yarn

This shawl is hands down my most worn item. I guess it's no wonder that I accidentally chose yarn that goes with every single thing in my closet. It looks great with brown, any shade of green, aqua, pink, purple....yeah, about everything I wear except red or black. The pattern only calls for one ball but I did use two. My friend Dawn made one with one skein & I just didn't think it was big enough for me. I prefer for a shawl to actually cover parts of my arms, not just drape over my shoulders. This one fits the bill and I can either just let it drape, pin it with a shawl pin, or tie the ends to keep it on. Since it's wool it actually is warm - perfect for a little chill in the air or a breeze. I also wore it as a scarf over my outerwear & it worked well for that as well. Are you sold? You must make one right now.

Recently I was wearing mine and my 10 year old niece asked me if she could have it. I felt really bad about telling her no, but dude, it's 2 skeins of Noro & has to be hand washed. I did make her one of her very own though out of one big skein of James Brett Marble Chunky. She was especially happy that it matched her Christmas dress.

The other shawl that I have been using to death is my Clapotis.

I had been leaving it at work to throw on if my office was chilly, but I've carried it home a few times because it also matches a ton of stuff in my closet. The object itself is very versatile - it can turn into a shawl or scarf depending on what you are needing at that moment. I will admit the yarn choice is also key because these colors really work for me (Brooks Farms Solo). I don't think I'd get as much use out of the same shawl knit in orange, yellow, and puke green yarn. The unwritten rules of yarn buying pretty much eliminate this from happening as I'd never actually BUY orange, yellow, and puke green yarn. Naturally, no offense intended if that is your favorite color combination - I eliminated some buying competition for you.

My most used scarf so far this winter has been the Lace Ribbon Scarf. Again, the color choice made the difference on this one because I can put it on with literally anything I have on & that color is in this yarn. It's made from Misti Alpaca Handpainted Sock yarn in the colorway Bird of Paradise & that alpaca content makes it very warm. I also made it really long like the pattern calls for (which meant using 2 skeins of yarn), so I can wrap it as little or as much as I want. I love it!

I haven't gotten as much use out of my sweaters this year & I'm not sure why. I have a few that I really do like but I guess it's more about the weather. Either it hasn't been cold enough to need one or it's been so cold that I need more than just a cardigan. I hate having to pull a big coat over layers of clothes - it's just not the Texas (or Louisiana) way. My favorite sweaters are also admittedly not in the most neutral colors. My Central Park Hoodie is peacock / aqua & my Fylingdales is maroon colored. What I really need is a black, brown, or gray sweater since that is what I grab toward when I'm in a hurry.

What this post has taught me is that color / yarn choice really is key to a successful project. In the past I've knit objects out of curiosity and I've finally gotten to the point that I need to know it will be usefulness going in. I realize that sounds ridiculous, particularly to non-knitters, but it's true. As much as I like to knit interesting patterns that make the actual process of knitting more fun, in the end I'm more likely to use something that is boring to knit - particularly in the sweater arena. Sad, but true.

What is your most used knitted object?

But did I do what I said I was going to do?

2010-01-12T11:00:00.000-06:00

I set my knitting goals for 2010 but I haven't bothered to look back to 2009 & see if I did what I said I wanted to do. Let's see....

* Knit from books: I made 7 projects from books and 2 projects from my magazines, which I have never done ever!
That's less that I did the year before but the truth is, if I used any of my books & especially my magazines, I'm feeling a little victorious about that.

* Some sort of stranded knitting: This year I made the Opus Spicatum hat. I had taken an ambidextrous class with Lucy Neatby this year & I was determined to use those skills. I did enjoy it & I need to do more of it in the new year.

* Do more charity knitting: You know, I really didn't do much charity knitting. I did knit some chemo caps this year, but I pretty much fell down on this one.

* Do more baby knitting: Perhaps this is why I didn't do much charity knitting! I had several friends having babies so I did a fair bit of baby knitting. That is going to continue this year too. The Mom of one of those babies has already put in a request, so I guess the few things I made for her were a hit. She is also appreciative, so hey, I'm game for knitting for a Mom that appreciates it! This is a sampling of my baby knitting which means it's the photos I found most easily.

* Blog more: Yeah. Haven't done that obviously. I have started a write up about several subjects, including Stitches East. I still plan to publish that, I just can't seem to do it without telling every single detail. That takes a really really long time to write up!

* More sweaters: I knit 3 sweaters for myself this year & 2 of those were disasters in their own way. That situation deserves its own post.

* Complete The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee: Fail. I actually just got the needles that I need to that in the mail on Monday & have have my yarn pull out of the stash. I've been reading through the instructions & I have already learned some stuff, so I'm anxious to put yarn to needles & get it going.

* Yarn: I wanted to focus on some of my stash yarn & I did do that this year. That doesn't change the fact that despite all the knitting I did, I still have more yarn that I did at the beginning of the year. What that means in case you haven't caught on yet is that I bought more than I knit. Sigh. Sue me.

Finish It Already!

2010-01-07T08:20:00.009-06:00

I don't think I'm alone when I say that sometimes, I just get bored with what I'm working on. I honestly don't know what happens in my brain. I get very excited about a new project & work on it like wild fire, then sometimes I lose interest completely. The situations are always different. Sometimes it's just that it's so dang boring. Sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing & I hate being lost - this is supposed to be FUN. Sometimes a new & shiny pattern / yarn comes along & has such a pull on my attention that the old projects gets dropped like a hot potato. Over time this pile just keeps bigger & bigger & bigger & bigger. This year I'm going to change all of that. I have heard some people make goals of finishing one UFO per month. That seems fair except...well...there aren't enough months in the year for that to finish mine up. I've heard some people say they aren't going to cast on anything new until all of their UFOs are done - dude, don't be ridiculous! I am all for goal setting, but this is knitting after all. It's not like I'm going to set unreasonable knitting goals & run my blood pressure up. It just seems silly to me. Everyone works differently, but that's not my style.

My Mom's number one marriage advice is this: when you are not liking your spouse so much, you have to think back to why you married them in the first place. What did you like about him? What attracted you? What qualities did he have that you admired? Well, that's what I am going to do with these projects. Try to remember what attracted me to them in the first place. Maybe I will be able to rekindle the love. For the projects - Patrick's still good in my book.

Are you ready for this? I'm about to show you my underwear drawer. I don't mean that literally, of course, but this is likely more embarrassing. I'm starting with the oldest first. Deep breath.

Noni Adventure Bag - Cast on March 2007

This is my oldest UFO on record. I put this down because the yarn was knotted. Yes, I know. I have since straightened it out & I only need to knit the strap & felt the stupid bag.

Trellis Shawl - August 2007 (photo for this link found on flickr taken by heywu)

Sigh. I want to knit this on larger needles but I don't want to frog it with the double strand & Kid Silk Haze going on in there. Ick.

Ophelia - Cast on March 2008
I don't actually have a picture of this is progress. I mostly stopped taking pictures in between because, well, I don't really care to see someone else's half way finished crap & I figure neither do you. I literally am finished this pattern but I don't like the fact that there isn't much of a sleeve on it. I want to add some sleeves but this is a perfect case of I don't know how. Well, that's not entirely true. I have some idea how but I'm scared it won't work out & then I'll be pissed & it will never become a real sweater. Stupid, right?

Misty Ike Socks - Cast on September 2008

I knit this one sock at a Knitting Fairy sock retreat. I then lost my sock mojo & it's been missing ever since.

Handspun Diagonal - Cast on November 2008

This is some great handspun made just for me by Kristina (and this is a terrible picture of it). The thing that I love about handspun in general is that it's pretty organic, not exactly the same all the way through. I knit this yarn straight from the 3 balls I had & didn't really mix it. I think it would look better if I mixed it up a little bit, so I am planning to pull it out & knit it over to do it justice. This yarn was so fun to work with I won't mind one bit having to knit it over. (Update - frogged 1/10/10)

Fit & Float - Cast on March 2009

I knit this to use try knitting actual lace with actual lace weight yarn that was gifted to me. I finished everything but the bind off. Seriously. I just don't want to do it because it's a picot bind off & it is going to take forever. So it's been sitting on my needles for nearly a year. Lame, right? (UPDATE: bound off 1/13/10. It needs a major blocking, but it's done.)

Not So Striped Tshirt - Cast on April 2009

This is a tshirt out of the Spring/Summer 2009 Knit Simple magazine. I wanted to use up this cool bamboo yarn (Brooks Farms Willow) & I think this is a great use of it, I'm just bored bored bored with it - I'm a little bit further than half way through. It would be nice to finish this up before the weather warms up again.

Liesl - Cast on April 2009

I really want this sweater. I have tried twice & I can't get it. I'd like to think I'm a pretty good knitter. Other knitters have whipped this thing off the needles in 2 weeks. I still can't get it right & I'm going to frog this again. The really crappy part is that this pattern doesn't take much yarn so I don't have enough of it to make a different sweater. We'll see.

Triple S Shawl - Cast on May 2009

I love this but it got a little crazy with multiple needles & holders & cables. I need to get a grip on it because it's fun & goes really really fast. Plus it has a ton of my size 8 needles all tied up!

Happy Harlot Socks - Cast on May 2009

I started these to have something mindless to knit during the Yarn Harlot. I have stopped carrying them around with me & I'm not sure why because they were going really quickly. I think it's because I got to the heel flap & needed to think for a minute. They are also really cute & I want these socks. (Update - got these past the decreases so it's back to easy knitting/carry in my purse status) further update - finished knitting & bound off the full pair 1/13/10

Lace Sampler ala Franklin

After taking Franklin's lace class I went & bought this absolutely divine cashmere & started a lace sampler. It's a lot of fun but I also think it's going to be a long term thing. I picked it up between projects & I think that's it's place in my knitting life, it's just gotten lost in the shuffle. It's one of those yarns I never want to run out of because it's that nice to work with. And I will admit the "random" nature of this pattern goes against every fiber of my being. I'm trying though.

My So Called Hat - Cast on September 2009
I finished the band, I just have to knit the cap part. I haven't because Patrick said it looks better as a headband & I should just leave it alone. I just don't know. I really don't look that great in a hat, but when will I ever use a headband & matching scarf?

Colonnade Shawl - Cast on September 2009

I didn't care of the two toned nature of this pattern so I started knitting it in a great variegated yarn that I had in stash. I am honestly not sure if I like it, that's why I put it down. I still don't know.

Moss Grid Handtowel - Cast on November 20009

Don't really like the fabric this is creating. I might go to the frog pond. (Update - frogged 1/10/10)

Lucy Again

This is my focus right now because I'd really like a brown sweater.

And then we aren't going to go to the place that I have bags that are finished & just need to be lined. Because that's just too much for me to talk about. This also doesn't include my 2 long term projects - my sock yarn blanket or my shawl that is made up of a trillion individually knit circles (really about 50 but it seems like a trillion).

Wow - that was really overwhelming. And I don't know where to start.

Ten for 2010

2010-01-03T13:07:00.000-06:00

As I've said in the past, I really don't believe in traditional New Years Resolutions. In my knitting life, though, I do like to try to push myself to try some new things & not get stuck in the same old rut.

There has been a lot of talk about making a list of 10 things you'd like to try, learn, accomplish in 2010. Here is my list:

1) One project from Selbuvotter
2) Make an Elizabeth Zimmermann percentage sweater or design your own raglan from the workshop I took with the Knitting Fairy
3) Last year one of my goals was to do the Sweater Workshop from the book by Jacqueline Fee & it fell to the wayside. This should help with #2 as well.
4) My super sweet husband got me a share in Jacob's Reward Farm & part of that share includes a spindle. I want to learn to use it so that by the time I get my fiber I will be able to do it justice. If not, I will send it off to a fiber mill. I will say that this one scares the ever loving shit out of me. I really don't want to go down the spinning rabbit hole but it may be inevitable.
5) Work on my UFOs (Unfinished Objects for you non knitter types). I have by last count about 17 hanging out. I want to reclaim my needles & project bags & space in my yarn room for goodness sakes! The only reason I actually think this might happen is that I am making it my project for the Knitting Olympics. I am pretty competitive with myself for reasons I'm sure only a therapist could explain & I refuse to pay one because I don't care that much.
6) Knit with my nicer yarn. I'm not saving it for the Pope. That's all I'm saying about that.
7) Knit at least 2 sweaters out of yarn in my stash. I usually go straight for new yarn when I pick a new sweater project & that is RIDICULOUS. I have some great yarn in my stash & it would feel great to put it to good use.
8) Knit more socks. I have completely lost my sock mojo. With the recent freezing cold weather here in Dallas, I have really enjoyed pulling out a pair of squishy, bright wool socks to wear with my Maryjanes or boots when it's cold. I'd like to have more. How do you find your mojo?
9) Steek. Even if it's just a swatch. This is high on the list of things that scare the bejesus out of me.
10) Illusion knitting. This one should be fairly simple since there are some dishcloths out there, but I've just never done it. A situation came up recently where my friends & I all agreed that illusion knitting would be cool but I honestly didn't know where to start.

There you have it. My top 10 things TO DO in 2010. Here are a few other things I'd like to work on so I thought I'd list them here - if for no other reason than a reference for my own use.

* Heavier weight shawls - I find I use them more frequently than the lace weight ones.
* Ongoing book project - USE YOUR BOOKS, YOU CRAZY GIRL
* Knit a Moebius. I particularly like this one
* Learn some new cast ons & bind offs. I have a pile of Lucy Neatby DVDs, I should probably use them. Plus I truly love her.
* Crochet. I'll put it on the list for the third year in a row & see what happens.
* More charity knitting. Or at least have some chemo caps on hand because sadly, I am asked for them more often than I wish to need them.
* I want to overdye some of my existing yarn that I have fallen out of love with.
* A project using the entrelac skills I learned several years ago at DFW Fiber Fest.

The other thing that really struck me this year was my friend Dawn relaying a conversation she had with another knitter we know. She said that she has built a great base of tools & supplies that she needs & next year she is spending her knitting dollars on classes & learning new techniques. I so love this idea. I am not stupid enough to believe that I won't buy yarn because that's just silly, but I'd love to be able to hit every class I want to go to without worrying about the budget. I also want to take some sewing classes, but we'll see where that leads. Much like the spinning, I am scared to get tied up in another hobby which leads to other stashes (fabric, raw fiber).

So do you have a plan for 2010?

Finished Projects in 2009

2010-01-02T13:08:00.000-06:00

Every year I like to recap my projects from the year for my own reference. You are free to skip this post as I'm sure it's not interesting to anyone but myself.

January: 1 bag, 3 scarves, 2 hats
Tovesta Bag
Green Chunky Scarf
Asymmetrical Hat
Red Alpaca Hat
Alpaca Neckwarmer
Black seed stitch scarf

February: 2 baby sweaters, 1 adult sweater, 1 mini-scarf, 1 hat
Blue Kimono
Lily's Feb Baby Sweater
Rectangela Sweater
Flat Stanley Scarf
Le Slouch Black

March: 1 baby sweater, 1 pr booties, 1 pr socks, 2 shawls
Red Baby Sweater
Angora Baby Booties
Punk Rib Socks
Sunday Market Shawl
Simple Yet Effective Shawl

April: 2 hats
Lacy Pink hat
Pashmina Odessa

May: nothing!

June: 1 shawl, 1 baby dress, 1 pr booties
Felicia dress for Nadia
Sea Silk Aeolian
Pink Angora Booties

July: 1 shawl
Vortex Shawl

August: 2 shawls, 1 scarf
Wrap Me Up Shawl
Magic Shawl
Just Enough Pink Ruffles

September - 2 shawls, 1 hat
Flamenco
Autumn Leaf Pi Shawl
Opus Spicatum

October: 1 sweater
October Frost

November: 1 baby sweater, 1 hat
Little Frou Frou
Orvieto Hat

December: 1 sweater, 1 shawl
Simple Yet Effective Marble
Featherweight Cardigan

34 projects total. That is one more than I did last year, but I do know that this year I found myself knitting more difficult projects such as lace shawls. At the end of the year I'm always disappointed I didn't knit more sweaters, but man, they just take such a time commitment. Not to mention that this year I had issues with 2 out of 3 that I knit for myself. I also "got" the shawl thing & then was whipping them off the needles like nobody's business. I have been getting tons of use out of a few of them, so I'm really happy that I did.

Now on to the new year....

Progress & Knitting Surgery

2009-09-08T08:19:00.013-05:00

So my yarn came in Friday. I hit the door from work at 5:00 on the dot Friday to try to make it to the Woolie Ewe by 6pm - apparently lots of folks had Friday afternoon off because I skated down the tollway with no problems & made it in 20 minutes flat. I even had time to scope out buttons there - which naturally I don't own enough of- can you believe I don't have 7 of any kind of button that will work for this sweater?!?! That is SO another story.

So here is the long awaited yarn:

I was all excited because we had no real plans for the long holiday weekend which gave me all Friday night plus three full days to get a chunk of this sweater knocked out. It has not been without issues. I knit the ribbing plus about 5 inches on the back (9 inches total) & then measured the back - it was about 30 1/2 inches wide. Uh, I know I've put on some weight, but dude, it doesn't need to be that big. My swatch was a big fat liar! So I took a deep breath & pulled the whole dang thing out.

Sunday morning I started all over again. I liked my gauge so I just adjusted the number of stitches in the reverse stockinette sections & moved right along. Early in the afternoon I noticed the worst thing I could imagine - I missed a cable twist! I thought of just moving along & pretending it didn't happen, but I just couldn't, it was more than obvious. Can you see it?

Of course not - the yarn is too dark. Trust me when I tell you, it was there. It wasn't ALL that far back, really only about 10 rows, but that included 2 cable twist that I'd have to wing. I had 2 choices - rip back those 10 rows or drop down those 4 stitches for 4 rows & hope for the best. Option #2 it is! I figured if I couldn't fix it I would have to rip it out anyway, so might as well try, right? This was the ugly scene:

So after about 20 minutes & hands shaking like crazy, I had dropped the stitches down & worked them back up with the help of a crochet hook, 2 DPNs, and a cable needle. Thank you Knitting Fairy for the excellent instruction - I mean, I've only taken her Don't Despair, Repair class twice.

Now I am back on track & have knit about 4 inches past the armhole shaping. I have some time off & am hoping that I can knock out some more in the next few days as I figure my knitting time while in Louisiana visiting my family will be limited.

This is one thing that I knit while waiting for my yarn to arrive - my very first stranded project. I LOVED it & it matches my winter coat perfectly. The pattern is Opus Spicatum and I knit it up in Knitpicks Swish Worsted. Adorable. I still wish I looked better in hats, but hey, it's functional.

So that's the news - I will update you when I have something more exciting to say than "I'm still working on this sweater"!

Typical Mind Changing

2009-08-12T07:40:00.006-05:00

So even though I just posted the story about the Celtic Icon & choosing the right yarn about, that really went down about 2 weeks ago. In the mean time, I have completely changed my mind - so typical of me & a new project, particularly a new sweater.

When I was looking for the perfect yarn for Celtic Icon, I came across this yarn:
Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed in color #156. I loved it. I searched for a DK weight in the same yarn but my LYS didn't have it. I looked for another gray yarn that might be an acceptable substitute but....you know. It wasn't the same. I got the other yarn & tried to forget all about it but....you know. So I have been in the obsessive mode of trying to find a sweater that I want to knit that matches that yarn. I spent hours & hours looking & then DUH - it hit me. My number 2 choice of sweaters to make for Stitches fit the bill. So instead of Celtic Icon I will be making October Frost (it's the one in the middle).I loved that sweater the instant I saw it in the book & that's it. I very well may change the collar on it because I'm not sure how I'm feeling about it, but I can change that when I get to it if the mood strikes me.

I finally broke down & called Woolie Ewe to see if they had enough in stock for my sweater. They had TWO BALLS LESS than I needed. So they ordered the yarn for me & I'm very impatiently waiting for it to come in so I can cast on. So impatiently even that I went in there yesterday on the off chance that I could get it. No such luck - which is kind of a good thing since I started 2 new projects since Saturday.

So there you have it - decision made. I will post photos of my yarn & keep you up to date on my progress when I make some. For now I'm working on a baby sweater for a shower Saturday (what, it's only Wednesday!), a Magic Shawl, and a lace shrug out of some ridiculously tiny black yarn. That shrug was making me hate knitting & I was a bit grumpy about it so I put it down.

That's all for now - later!

I adore you, really, but are you a match for me? - or Choosing yarn

2009-08-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

I'm going to pretend that I didn't skip 5 months of blogging, are you in? Instead of trying to play catch up & showing you 27 things that I've made, I'll just tell you where I am right now this instant in the world.

I've really been a slave to knitting lace and shawls. I have completely abandoned all sock, sweater, and accessory knitting. Now, once again, I'm all about making a new sweater.

Here's my news: for my anniversary my husband got me a free ride to a big knitting event of my choice. So of the events coming up in the very near future, I chose to go to Stitches East which will be in Hartford, CT Oct 22-25. For those of you who don't know, Stitches is a huge knitting conference with tons of vendors, classes & all around knitterly activity for a full weekend. I am signed up for 2 great classes, my hotel & flight are both booked. Now you know good & well what I need - new clothes!

I have no idea why this phenomenon exists, but when I go on a trip, I must purchase new clothes. Nevermind that I have perfectly acceptable clothes in my closet that no one where I am going has ever seen. I want new new new new new. Want to guess what this means for a knitting trip? I MUST KNIT NEW STUFF FOR STITCHES. My goal is to knit a new sweater, because I have some awesome new shawls hot off the needles & I'm satisfied with their newness level. Wanna see?

Aeolian is posted.

Vortex

For the past week I have looked at every sweater that I have ever thought that maybe I wanted to knit to chose something that I find acceptable for such an occasion. My final decision? Celtic Icon by Fiona Ellis from the book Inspired Cable Knits. I love it. Now I'm on the quest for the perfect yarn.

You know, this might be my very favorite part of the knitting process, the plan. I love deciding on a new project, choosing a yarn, choosing a color. So I went to the Woolie Ewe & purchased ONE BALL of a few yarns to try out. This is a new approach for me - I usually throw caution to the wind, buy a full sweater's worth, knit it up into a sweater, or worse, promptly find out that it doesn't work for my project & stash it for another day. This is why I have 12 kinds of sweater yarn in my stash that don't work for any sweater that I want to knit ever (I'm working on this, don't judge me).

These are the yarns I bought, and perhaps won't be the color of my sweater, I just wanted to try them out:

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool - I have been trying to use this yarn for a sweater for ages, we just don't seem to get along. I bought 2 & figure I'll end up making a scarf from this after the swatching project.

Queensland Collection Rustic Wool DK - it is more of a semi-solid with slight color variations & I am digging that right now.

Queensland Collection Rustic Tweed. Sigh. My friend Dawn bought this yarn for a sweater & boy did I fall in love with it. Hers is a most gorgeous pink but I just can't bring myself to want this sweater in that color. I am going to try this but some of the reviews say that the color variations from skein to skein are pretty brutal & frankly, I'm not all about carrying 2 balls of yarn to make it work out - I find that to be a great big pain in my ass. So while this is my favorite, I'm going in cautiously.

So...come with me on the crazy journey of choosing yarn for a project. Who knew it was that much work, huh?

Wanna see something pretty?

2009-08-06T12:53:00.003-05:00

My very first real lace shawl with beads & everything. I went to my friend Sherilyn's yesterday & she helped me block it so it would be gorgeous. And well, if I may say so myself, it is.

It's still drying at her house, but it's not like I'll be wearing it anytime soon. I really really love it though & it was fun fun fun to knit.

Aeolian from Knitty.com in Handmaiden Sea Silk Chocolate.

Cutest baby stuff

2009-02-08T12:18:00.006-06:00

Man, I love knitting baby items. They take no time & they are SO freaking cute.

February Baby Sweater for my sister's sister in law (got that?) I took this to Target & put it up against other clothes to figure out what size it came out. It seems to be a 6-9 month sweater, which will need to be short sleeved for a Louisiana baby in August to November. I love these buttons:

This is the Baby Kimono out of Mason-Dixon Knitting. I have no idea why they didn't include button holes (or why I didn't think of it in the middle of the project) because that would have been SO much easier than sewing ribbon. Bleech. I have had the knitting done for 3 months but just got around to sewing that ribbon. As a matter of fact, this was for a baby that has since outgrown it so it's going to Patrick's nephew's baby Logan who was born the end of January. It really is cute & I'd knit it again in a second.

I have a few more baby things on my list but haven't started any yet so this will have to do for now. I hope the mommies love them!

Chipping away at projects

2009-02-04T08:23:00.006-06:00

Man, I finished a lot of projects in January! I finished 3 scarves, my Clapotis shawl, and two hats. Plus Cheryl finished that bag for me so I count that as well - that makes 7 finished things last month. Dang! Amazing the number of things I get through when I'm not working on something really big like a sweater. So what did I do? I cast on for a sweater! Every sweater I have made so far has been a cardigan. I live in Texas & really, even in the winter I get HOT inside. I find the winter so frustrating because indoors people crank the heat up & I always wonder about that. We are dressed in winter clothes, it doesn't have to be 75 degrees inside! So cardigans really make sense for me because I can layer them over a tshirt & be ready for the weather & the warm temps inside.

But lately I have been on the search for the perfect pullover. I actually own some store-bought pullovers & I do wear them, so I figured it was time to make one. I had about 10 picked out & some that I truly loved - but I had to come to terms that some of them really just weren't going to be flattering. It's one thing to try on a sweater in the store & decide you don't like it. Try spending weeks of your time plus a fair amount of money on yarn only to realize it's not the shape for you. I got lots of great advice from my friends, had it limited down to two, then I got the new Berroco newsletter & they had this:

Rectangela

I had some great black yarn that is a silk/viscose/nylon blend that makes a great fabric in my stash so I started it the same night. I am making pretty good progress but am scared to death it's all going too easily. We shall see.

In between this sweater knitting I did finish my scarf for DC - I bought a red coat with black & grey plaid lining in the hood, so low & behold, not even one scarf I own will go with it. I made this really quickly & will probably whip out a black or grey hat between now & then.

That's all for now - finishing up some of the cutest knitting ever - baby sweaters! Pictures to come soon.

I Can't Stop Casting ON!!!!!

2009-01-18T10:59:00.009-06:00

I recently realized that since I have joined Ravelry (really nerdy knitter site) that I haven't been sharing my knitting as much on my blog. So, do you want to see what I've made in the past few weeks?

Cashmere Neckwarmer (that is the name, I used Cascade Baby Alpaca) & hat to match:

This is for Patrick's stepmom for our February trip to Washington, DC. I still have to block it & sew on the button.

Green Chunky Scarf - so easy, seed stitch, 7 stitches, fringe. I love chunky yarn & size 17 needles. I haven't done that in a really long time.

Asymmetrical Hat as a birthday present for my stepmom:

Remind me not to knit anything else "asymmetrical" - it really messed with my head.

Plus my Clapotis (see previous post). I don't know what it is about January that makes me cast on a ton of projects, but it always seems to bring it out in me.

This one is finished, but I can't really take credit for it. I finished knitting this Tovesta bag in March 2008. I took a bag lining class in May, and what that taught me was that I need to pay other people to line my bags for me. I had that fabric cut out & ready to sew in, so my sweet friend Cheryl sewed it in for me & gave it to me this week. I love it so much & she has a cool goodie coming her way for helping me.

It looks like small instant gratification projects are the theme of this month! Off to pick out something ELSE to cast on. See, this is why a stash is a smart idea.

The Race for Clapotis

2009-01-13T07:54:00.013-06:00

So here's the story. I made a Clapotis for myself back in the summer of 2006. Here's a picture of it:

Let's just say that I don't have fond memories of knitting this shawl & it has been one of the least used things that I have ever knit. Very disappointing.
This one has a lot of things in the con column:
* Why oh why did I make it that color? This was back in the day when I didn't really think through the finished object & rather it would be practical & useful.
* I used an acrylic yarn - although I have to say, I've used this blend several times & it wears well, is easy to care for, and the fabric is pretty dang good. Plus it's cheap & comes in a ton of colors. (Erdal Laser)
* Even as a beginner I knew this was a boring knit

Fast forward to December 08.....I went to run around doing errands before Christmas & it was freaking cold here. I really needed something more than a scarf, but what? Oh yeah, let me throw on my Clappy. So I did & I literally fell in love with it. The construction of it going from shawl to scarf is so freaking clever that I couldn't believe it. I could take off my heavy jacket & use it as a shawl - it was a perfect companion. Now my issue - it was acrylic & perhaps not as warm as I had in mind (I know I live in Texas & everyone thinks it's so warm here, it's a "warm" 29 this morning). It was solid colored, and not even really a color I would normally chose. I cut it one repeat short because I was afraid I'd run out of yarn. I wanted one that was gorgeous & varigated like the ones that everyone else & their grandmother have. But....I'd have to knit it again.

I began to think about it (obsess about it?) a lot & I went through so many options of yarn that I had in my stash. I finally gave up & asked Liz to tell me what yarn to use. So she did - Brooks Farm Solo Silk in the Cary that I got on the retreat last year. I credit 2 things for the completion of the Clapotis in record time:
1) This yarn - it kicks ass. It falls into the deserted island yarn category - if I had a chose a few yarns that I had to knit with forever, I'd be fine taking this one.

2) Liz just finished her Clapotis after TWO YEARS. When I told her that I figured out that I could do a straight row repeat in an hour (maybe an hour 15 min) & that at this rate I could finish by the end of the week, she told me if I finished mine in a week she'd hate my guts. I know she can't hate my guts but I'd have the "I finished my clappy in a week" ammo in my knitting bag forever. So basically she accidentally threw down the gauntlet & I accepted in a crazy way. On top of that, I was really afraid that if I put it down for even a day, it would languish in my not-finished-objects for 2 or so years.

So in a week, people, I knit myself this gorgeous Clapotis. I cast on during The Bachelor (don't you judge me! That Jason is adorable) & I bound off during The Bachelor the next week. I can't take it off - it has been everywhere with me since.

Now go knit one!

But I Don't DO Christmas Knitting!

2009-01-01T08:35:00.000-06:00

In years past I have stressed myself out over Christmas knitting. I have been knitting all the way up to the wire & every year I tell myself I'm not doing it again. I have learned that I am NOT good under pressure, the knitting becomes un-fun, and I knit all kinds of evil thoughts into the item & that isn't good for anyone. So why oh why did I do it again? I do it to myself, too, no one asks me to, I just do.

So what did I make this year? Only 2 things.

My Mom asked for a Christmas green scarf, so I finished it just in time:

I didn't even get a photo of it done - can you believe it? But it looks like this, only longer & not on the needles. This is Palindrome, but I did it in a DK weight yarn, which I don't recommend since it took for freaking ever.

Patrick's Grandma has been saying she wanted some fingerless gloves for quite some time & I got inspired to make her some Dashing:

These literally took me 2 days of off & on knitting to finish. I mean really, they are so pretty (designed for men, but throw in some pink & nothing looks manly).

That is the end of my Christmas knitting. I still much prefer to just knit stuff & surprise the recipient at some odd time (sometimes in the heat of summer) but both of these were well received & I was glad I made them.

Some people plan ahead & start their Christmas knitting right now! How in the world do you hold stuff for that long? I have news for everyone - if I finish knitting you something in February, you are going to get it in February. If it's done in June, you have a random June gift. I'm so terrible about that! Do you knit / buy gifts ahead & actually wait to give them to the giftee? Give me tips if you manage.

So....that's the end of 2008, huh?

2008-12-31T09:08:00.010-06:00

I can't believe this year is over. Time truly does fly when you are having fun. Or working. Or knitting.

So here's what I've been doing - I have been struggling with what to knit next. Dawn threw down a challenge to go through your WIPs (works in progress for your non-knitterly people) & either finish them, commit to finish them, or tear them out. Sigh. That was a hard process for me as I hate to pull out my knitting. It represents hours of time & effort & even if I don't like it I have a hard time doing it. I am trying to change my focus to the fact that if I do that, I'll have more yarn to make things I like instead of just having it sit. Not to mention the needles that it frees up! So I did frog several projects. I frogged some socks that were just going to be too little (stupid Socks That Rock)

Yes, I know they are pretty, but they were going to be too small - I can't get proper gauge with any form of STR. This is my 2nd frog of this yarn, btw.

I am going to frog the Trellis Shawl that was quite a ways in but seriously, I am unhappy with how wide it was (not enough) & I just won't be happy with it. I need to upsize the needles to about a 10 then start over.

It is WAY further along than this - probably 14-16 inches in, but hey, I'm not happy & I need to face the truth.

Then I'm almost embarrassed to show you this, but truth is truth:

I don't know what I was thinking. This Square Cake Bag called for a beaded yarn (tres pricey) & I was thinking I could use use this ridiculous mirrored yarn that I bought for $2 a skein & bling up my own bag. Well....it was even a little much "bling" for me. Which is saying a lot - I'm hard pressed to call something gaudy, even when it is. But this was really just a disaster. Dawn tried to frog it to save the Bonsai it was held with, but soon decided that she'd rather me lose the $12 than go through that so we THREW IT IN THE GARBAGE CAN. Oh well. (I truly apologize to the place of business that now has a floor covered in sequins. Not to mention that Dawn will be finding sequins in her knitting bag for about 14 years)

The good news:
I uncovered some projects that really don't require much effort to finish. Noni Adventure Bag - it seems that all I have left on this bag is the handle. I put it down because my yarn is tangled - how wimpy is that???? I can untangle some yarn now so I'm going back to it.

I found 2 skeins of yarn that I have been looking for - both of which will become the 2nd sock of 2 pairs I started. So that's good.

I found my itty bitty beaded bag & it's pretty far along - I actually enjoy knitting on it, so I want to finish that up.

Whew. That's it. I think. I want to extend the challenge to you too - go dig out your UFOs - frog what you don't love, knit what you do.

2008 Wrap up

2008-12-28T21:56:00.004-06:00

My holidays were SO GREAT - we had the best holiday season ever & I must tell you - I'm so glad it's over. I'm sick of eating rich food & not sleeping & spending money & not sleeping in my bed....you know the drill. But really - we are so blessed and go so many freaking presents that I'm STILL unpacking.

Here is my annual for my very own self year end project wrap up. I realize no one cares about this except me, but I love going back & seeing how I've progressed or knowing what I keep making over & over again (scarves, anyone?)

January - 4 hats, 3 scarves, 1 pr socks
Super Yak Scarf
Hannah Hat
Skinny Scarf
Edge of Lace Hat
BR Knock Off Hat
Le Slouch
Luxe Neck Warmer
Basket Weave Hacho Socks

February - 1 shawl, 1 hat, 1 scarf
Opal Shawl
Spring cap
Villandry swap scarf

March - 1 pr socks, 1 scarf
Army Girl Socks
Twisty Toasty Malabrigo scarf

April - 1 scarf
Squishy Purple scarf

May - 1 scarf, 1 shrug
Silk Multidirectional
Bobbilicious

June - 2 toys (the month of toys?)
Rudy
Patrick's Gun

August - 1 dishcloth, 1 sweater, 1 shawl, 1 pr socks
Blue dishcloth
Tatami Kimono
Falling Leaves Shawl
Go with the flow Glam socks

September - seriously? Just a burp cloth?
Baby burp cloth

October - 1 baby sweater
Plankton Baby Sweater

November - 1 bracelet, 2 scarf, 1 pr socks
Beaded bracelet
Purple Koigu Garden Socks
Springy Lace Ribbon Scarf
Baby Kimono

December - 1 scarf, 1 hat, 1 pr mittens, 1 pr socks, 1 sweater
Green cabled scarf
Pink Foolproof Hat
Dashing
Autumn Footies
Fylingdales Cardigan

That's 33 projects - less than last year but still. I really hate that the months that it looks like I'm not doing anything (like April) are probably my heaviest knitting months - I'm just working on something mammoth like a sweater or shawl.

I'm already busy planning new stuff for 2009. I cast on for a new sweater today and I plotted out a few gifts. I also went through my WIPs & ripped out a few things. I pushed a few things to the front burner as well, like a purse that I only have the handles left. Why in the world do I stop things when they are so close to being done? Usually I have no clue, but in this case the yarn is tangled to hell & back. I have a few things that I need support for so I'm bringing them with me the next time I see my friends. Someone is always happy to frog a project that isn't theirs! Time to start fresh! And how about you? Anything you need me to frog for you?

The Tree that Saved Christmas

2008-12-16T16:45:00.007-06:00

I do love Christmas. But the older I get the more I dread pulling out all the crap that transforms my home into a Christmas wonderland. Don't get me wrong - I WANT the Christmas wonderland, I just want the elves to do it. More importantly I want them to take it all down.

I put off the tree decorating a little this year. Usually I put up the tree the day / weekend after Thanksgiving. I stayed home ALL weekend this year because we had both been running so much, I just really needed some do nothing time. I felt guilty all dang weekend because I didn't go get my tree & put it up like a good little Christmas Elf. I'm off on Wednesdays, so the following Wednesday I told Patrick that we MUST go get our tree & put it up today or really, what's the point? Honestly, I was prepared to go through the full Christmas season with no tree. I wouldn't have told anyone this - I can't stand the peer pressure. I find that if you don't say it, seriously, no one asks. Who wouldn't put up a tree? Patrick was very adamant that he wanted a tree & I was a big old scrooge if I didn't put one up. He came home from work that night, changed clothes, and we got in the car, me half groaning. He told me that we could turn around right now & not get a tree....he called my bluff & I said "as long as we are out we might as well get a tree."

We arrived at home depot in appropriate cold (do you know how UNfun it is to buy a tree when it's warm?) He immediately walked over to the small 4-5 foot trees, pulled one out, and said "What about this one?" I could have kissed him. I think I did kiss him. Really? A small little tree that isn't a beating? That only costs $18.95? That we don't have to navigate through the maze that is our house to the tree spot? Only to find that it doesn't fit in the space for said tree? Then try putting the lights on a too big tree......Sounds like last year.

But a small tree....I can do a small tree. Sad part? A small tree never crossed my mind - NOT EVEN ONCE. I don't know what that is, but I didn't even know that was an option. IT IS! So we got the small tree, got it home, and I put the lights (2 strands, thankyouverymuch) - I could even walk around the dang thing to put them on. No beating. No fighting. No gnashing of teeth. I LOVE MY LITTLE TREE! It smells like a tree, it's lit, it has ornaments. Sigh. The tree that saved Christmas, at least at our house.

2009 Plan (not resolutions)

2008-12-14T07:52:00.009-06:00

As I stated last year here, I do not make New Year's resolutions. But as 2008 starts to wrap up, I can't help but wonder what 2009 holds in all areas of my life, including knitting. First let me look back at my 2008 plan & see how much of it I accomplished.

* I wanted to utilize my books more this year. I did knit 11 patterns from books that I have or bought throughout the year. That is less than half of the projects I did all year, but that's better than I've ever done before.

* I said I wanted to learn to knit socks on magic loop. Well, I didn't knit narry a sock magic loop, but I did knit 27 Barn Raising Quilt squares on magic loop, so I get it. I consider that a "done".

* Learn to crochet. Uh, that didn't happen for the second year running. I tried & I suck & I hate being bad at something. I can't get my tension right & it frustrates me.

* More sweaters. I knit 2 sweaters for myself, so that is technically more sweaters. Not exactly what I had in mind, though. I think this goal will follow me throughout my knitting life.

* Make a hat that fits a real person, not a doll or a yetti. Well, I knit 5 hats last January & they all fit real people. So....check!

* Glad I didn't make any yarn resolutions because I bought a bunch of it this year.

For 2009:
* Continue the book thing. I love the idea of choosing a book & getting inspired by that book. Ideally, in my wildest dreams, I'd like to knit all of the way through a book. I can't pick a book because naturally I don't like all of the patterns in any book, but I can dream. Last Minute Knitted Gift & Knitters Book of Yarn are the only two in the running at this point.

* Some sort of stranded knitting - I bought yarn specifically for the Inga Hat. I also really like Three Tams & the Fake Isle Hat. So something like that.

* Do more charity knitting. I really am a selfish knitter & I have to consciously decide to knit for charity. I am always glad when I do.

* Do more baby knitting. It's fun, fast, and rewarding. I will be surrounded by babies this year so I have people to knit for (boys! don't they know how much pink yarn I own???). I also got caught needing some last minute baby gifts, so having a few baby sweaters / hats / booties on hand wouldn't go to waste. Can also go with the charity knitting since one of the girls in my group is on the board of Newborns In Need for the Dallas area.

* Blog more. I have so many ideas for my blog. I'd like to share my trips, which I know we have at least 2 this year. My inlaws are giving us a trip to Washington DC for Christmas & then Patrick's dad was named President of the Louisiana Bar Association, so I know we will be going to Vegas or Destin for that this year. We have so much fun & I'd like to share that with my friends & family, not to mention having a diary of sorts for myself. Plus I have some series-es (man, how do you make that plural???) that I want to do. I have tons of ideas & no follow through. I figure if I blog EVERY SINGLE WEDNESDAY since I'm most probably off, that would be great. We'll see.

* As mentioned above, more sweaters. I noticed that the last few years January was a hat time. This year, not so much. I want to knit Liesl immediately following my Christmas knitting (of which there isn't much) and then I'd like to make some type of pullover before we go to DC in late February. I'd like to have a sweater on the needles at all times throughout the year just like any other project.

* Complete The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee. I heard about this book on my new favorite podcast - Cogknitive (you should really go listen). I bought the book & I really am intrigued - it isn't a sweater, but I have read comments from everyone that has made it & they agree that they learned SO MUCH. I want to make it.

* Finally, yarn. I did get my craft room in working order last month. I got a great glass front cabinet to put all of my yarn in, so I can see it AND it's easily accessible. I do have a little room in it, but there's the whole Woolie Ewe year end sale coming up & I already have Christmas gift cards! So I plan to stock up & I do have a list already. I'm not saying that I won't buy yarn next year, because that is RIDICULOUS. I will say that I'm trying to change the way I chose my projects. Usually I pick a project, half-heartedly search my existing stash, then go buy yarn for said project. I want to change that focus to choosing one of the fabulous yarns that I have on hand, swatching (if it's a garment or something that needs it), then find a pattern that works with that yarn. At the end of next year, I'd like to have knit more out of stash than new yarn, and I think that's totally doable.

So that's my plan! How about you? If you post a list, let me know so I can go check yours out - I might have missed something & will need to shameless copy you.

ETA: I thought of one more. I want to knit a difficult lace weight shawl. I have done one in worsted weight & one in heavy fingering, so now it's time for the real deal. Right now I'm thinking Hanami in my mahogany Handmaiden sea silk. We'll see.

Need a smile today?

2008-12-11T07:30:00.005-06:00

How cute is this?

I went to see Annise & her new little baby yesterday after a long day of Christmas shopping. It made my day - he is ADORABLE & she's such a good little mamma. He arrived 3 weeks early AND managed to break her tailbone in the process, but she doesn't even care.

Too cute!
Photo credits to Liz & her new camera.

Swap questionaire

2008-12-03T19:42:00.009-06:00

For my Rubbernecker swap person.

Dear nicest swap partner alive,
Here are my answers to the questionaire. I really am not a picky bitch just in case it sounds that way. I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever you come up with.

* What form of fiber manipulation do you prefer? (Particularly, do you spin / would you welcome roving in your swappypack?). I do not spin, but do appreciate handspun.

* What fibers do you prefer? My favorite is alpaca, but I like any natural fibers as long as they aren't scratchy.

* What yarn weights do you prefer? I think there are uses to all yarns. I prefer chunkier scarves, but I'm also intrigued with lace weight these days.

* What colo(u)rs do you prefer? Pink is my FAVORITE but I'm trying to expand my horizons. Next favorites are green, chocolate brown, or deep purples. The only colors I do not like are yellow or orange. But I'd never turn down pink yarn.

* Would you be amenable to noms in your swappypack? sure Any allergies your buddy should know about? no

* Do you have a wishlist? Just amazon.com If yes, where can it be found? You can follow that linky thingy.

* Do you have a blog? Wow - yes, obviously Where? RIGHT HERE.

* Is there anything else you collect? I just turned my spare room into a yarn room. I am decorating in sheep & I have very few right now, so I guess the long answer is: SHEEP

* Any books, yarn, patterns, or needles that are out there that you are dying to get your hands on? All of my books/ mags / pamphlets are in my Ravelry library. You can check my queue, but I'm thinking I have more patterns than I'll ever use. Unless you have access some cool UK magazine I can't get my hands on, like Yarn Forward. Or, you know, Shaun the Sheep by Alan Dart. (see, not TOO picky wanting an impossible patterns. how about an Alice Starmore book while your at it)

Sincerely,
Tasha

Teaser for the Yarn cabinet reveal

2008-11-16T08:26:00.000-06:00

Kudos to Liz for the pretty picture. There is a pink row - can you tell?

Kid N Ewe 2008

2008-11-16T07:51:00.004-06:00

Several people have asked me about my trip to Boerne, TX to attend Kid N Ewe . I had a freaking ball. I would replay the trip for you, but honestly, I can't do any better job than Sherilyn on her blog or Dawn on her podcast, so you can go read / listen to their takes on it. Here are the only things I would add.

Here is the bracelet I made in my knitting with beads & wire class:

I LOVED this class - I must make more. It was really simple & our teacher, Midge Jackson, was out of this world great.

Here is the yarn I bought:

The pink/gray/brown around the sides is Plain & Fancy Wool, enough to make a sweater. It's the first thing I bought when I got there - there were only 5 skeins in the booth & I couldn't bear to think it wouldn't be there on Saturday. The very top yarn is Henry's Attic peruvian tweed - it is an alpaca yarn & is SO SOFT. I wish I had bought a big pile of it. The purple/green/brown is PacaPeds sock yarn in Grapevine (you know, because I needed more sock yarn). The gray & gray/black skeins are Bluebonnet alpaca for I don't know what but I had to have it. The brown & gray skeins are Panther Farms Llama that I won for $15 in the silent auction - value of $80. The aqua/brown is Brooks Farms Acero that I bought to make a magic shawl. I probably wouldn't have ever made this but some of my friends have & every one of them is GORGEOUS. I also got a stuffed alpaca & some LED lights that you can attach to your shirt but I go those more for reading than knitting. And I bought some sweater clasps that were really inexpensive & I'm excited about finding the right project for them.

My big news is that when I got home, my sweeter than ever husband & father-in-law had gone to Ikea, gotten my yarn cabinet, and put it together. Here it is with hardly any wool :D

More on that later because I've been filling it up all week. Yesterday Liz came over to have an intervention of ugly yarn (which I had surprisingly little of) & man, it's full. I LOVE IT.

I'll leave you with a goat & an alpaca. I must admit my one disappointment was the absence of animals at the fiber fest! A few kids, but no ewes, and for sure no llamas. And only 2 alpacas. Weak!

PS - some people have asked about results from the Hwy 80 sale. I must admit, I started an entry about the weekend & it was BORING AS HELL. The weekend wasn't but the story was & I got discouraged. Also, a lot of what I bought will be gifts so I can't talk about it much. I'll try to spice it up a bit & post after my Mom gets her birthday box.

My favorite thing today.....

2008-11-15T22:37:00.007-06:00

is these slippers. I got them as a birthday present from Susanne back in May but I only wear slippers in the winter. Today was a perfect day for them - spent the whole day playing with my yarn (plus it didn't get out of the 50s today) & put these slippers on ....they are so soft & squishy. If you see them at Bath & Body, grab them immediately.

Then there is the cute tail factor.

Love.

Highway 80 sale - here we come!

2008-10-16T09:50:00.007-05:00

For the third year running, I am spending the weekend going from small town to small town to experience the Highway 80 sale. This is a garage sale that spans from Mesquite, TX to Jackson, MS. It really is a bit insane. The past 2 years, some friends & I have gotten up at the butt crack of dawn & driven East. This year will be a bit different - only 2 brave souls, Liz & I, will be attending. Becky moved away to Cincinnati & we are heart broken that she can't join us - we even tried to lure here back to Texas for the weekend. Other past or potential attendees can't get away for a WHOLE WEEKEND. That's right, I said the WHOLE WEEKEND. We are leaving at some point tomorrow & heading in that direction. Liz's Mom lives in Marshall, TX, which is about 2 1/2 hours of straight driving from the Dallas area. In garage/yard sale terms that means a full day. So we plan to spend the night there, get up EARLY Saturday morning, and see how far East we can get. It really is a ball & I can hardly wait to get started. My MIL has a theory about garage sales. If you go with her, you have to verbally speak what you are looking for & you will create it. I used to think that was bullcrap until I went with her & did it about 10 times. So I will verbally state my agenda for the record & the universe to hear me. I plan to decorate my yarn/craft/extra room in sheep, so I'll be looking for cute sheep in all forms. I am always looking for cool buttons, vintage & otherwise. When I was at my Mom's house this weekend we moved some furniture around & she has the prettiest antique piece with really old quilts displayed in it. I am going to look for something cute for her to hang over that piece, something like an old quilt sign or a cute picture or something like that. We also are always on the lookout for cool vintage jewelry & purses (Liz will fight me to the death for a purse, so I'll try to play nice). Preferally all of the above for a quarter. You have to have a goal or 3 days of yard sales might be a bit overwhelming. Plus we aren't bringing a Uhaul. The most important thing we always come back with is stories, and I can't wait to share them with you. I also see some knitting in the weekend, I just have to figure out what to bring with me. Wish us luck.

Mystery of the Socks - Solved?

2008-09-10T19:06:00.001-05:00

Let me tell you a sock story. Just in case you didn't know - I said I would "never" knit socks. Never say that - about anything ever - because you never know what you might do & actually enjoy one day. My first sock experience was not a good one, but I took a class on how to do socks on 2 circs with my good friend & the best teacher ever - Alissa - the Knitting Fairy. I simply took the class to learn the method so I could do sleeves on 2 circs because I am not a fan of DPNs. Then I found sock yarn. It's a cheap fix & so dang pretty so I caught the sock bug & knit up about 8 or 9 pairs. Then I lost interest. A few months ago I got interested again. It's Texas, it's freaking HOT & socks are a good summer project. I started some socks - they didn't work. I tried using the "fool proof" method out of the highly recommended books Sensational Knitted Socks & More Sensational Knitted Socks. In case you have been living under a rock or aren't a knitter, these books are "fool proof" (notice those quotes I keep including - it's coming - wait for it) because it teaches you to measure your foot & customize socks in 4,000,000 different ways. I exaggerate but you get the drift - you can merely knit a gauge swatch, figure out your stitches, add a pattern, do different types of toes & heels, etc, etc. I did make one pair of socks from the method in this book & they came out fine - these as a matter of fact:

But they were in DK weight & I had an idea of how many stitches & the needle size that I needed to make them work. So if I was being totally honest I'd say I didn't actually use the measuring part of the book. Ok - all of that to fast forward to the near past....
I have a lot of sock yarn. Um, a lot. So I decided to knit knit knit socks. I have another excuse - I got these for my birthday:

Yep - clear Converse. I love them & they are perfect for showing off hand knit socks. I need more so I can wear them more.

I picked some yarn I love & started a sock.
STR Little Bunny Foo Foo

Didn't work. Was too big around my leg. So I went down # of stitches. Didn't work. Doesn't fit over my ankle. Let's try toe up. Nope. Too tight in the ankle. Let me just say this - I don't have weird feet & ankles. I don't think anyone believed me so they checked me out at knit night. Nope, pretty skinny ankles for a chubby girl & normal sized feet & toes. Nothing unusual. So I set it aside & grabbed more pretty yarn.

Lotus Yarn Punk Rock Girl. Love.

Started to knit Carolina's - I didn't like the pattern with the yarn so I tore it back. And I didn't like the fabric so I went down a needle size. Nope. Still not good. Started toe up - nope.

Do you see a freaking pattern here? I swatched, I swear I did & socks don't like me. So I gave up. RIP sock knitting.

Flash forward to about 6 weeks ago. By a twist of fate I ended up with some of this seller's watermelon sock yarn. Biscotte - if you like her stuff for goodness sakes buy something! She has great customer service & her yarn is pretty. Anyhow. So I decide to knit a plain stockinette sock or a simple rib or something & do it until I get it right. Well, I needed a size 1 needle. Somewhere along the line I must have decided that 2.75mm needles are the PERFECT size for me because I have quite literally 7 circular needles of this size plus a set of DPNs. BTW - fingering weight does not so much work with that size needle. (Tasha's sock problem #417). I have 2 size 1s & I couldn't find them so I went on a hunting mission. I found them - in a sock that I started in November last year at Kid & Ewe. I had knit maybe 3 inches on it & gave up. I came ridiculously close to pulling the sock off those needles to use them then I had a thought - "why in the world would I do that when these socks are WORKING?" HEEEEELLLLLLLOOOOOO. I started knitting on them again on a Saturday & bound off the first sock on Monday night. I loved it! I am in love with it. I like sock knitting again! So I cast on for #2 at knit night on Tuesday & Friday night I finished a pair of socks for the first time in 6 months. These- Go With the Flow socks from Favorite Socks in Lone Star Arts color Glam.

May I take this moment to mention that I didn't have even ONE finished object in July? All of those quilt squares & circles I guess. September is sucking quite a bit as well.

To add to my sock knitting craziness, I'm going a sock retreat this weekend in Lindale, TX at Arabella Garden. I'm bringing the only problem socks that still exist on the needles (that adorable Little Bunny Foo Foo sock) and more sock yarn than I can shake a stick at. I'm coming back an expert - DO OR DIE. Socks beware.

Wanna see something pretty?

2008-08-31T23:16:00.007-05:00

Isn't it? Oh, I think it is. What is it, you ask? It's my newest sweater project - the Fylingdales Cardigan from A Fine Fleece. Only that picture on her website doesn't really do it justice & I'm not putting that flappy collar on it - I don't do well with a collar like that. There is some controversy about the name. The pattern as originally published clearly reads "fLyingdales" - which seems to only reference a Jethro Tull song, but the book clearly has "fYlingdales" - which is an area in England. Neither are in the dictionary & quite frankly, I don't really care. I only know it's pretty. I'm using Mmmmmmalabrigo worsted weight yarn in the color Red Mahogany colorway that I bought at The Knitting Nest in Austin when we went down to see Franklin in May. I am LOVING working with this yarn. It's so gorgeous & soft & buttery. I think it's great because I think of that weekend often while knitting with it - it's the perfect souveniur from the trip. I just started this sweater last Sunday so I've made great progress on it in a week. The fact that Patrick has been deployed again for a hurricane & it's a long weekend may have something to do with that. Gustav, go away please. Thank you.

In other news, I finished my kimono last week. As most of you know, I've been working on the stupid thing forever! Well, not exactly forever, I started it mid-December last year. It came out really pretty & can you believe it? I LOVE IT. I generally work on something for that long, try it on & don't really get that loving feeling. This is entirely different - it's really pretty. I do still have to block it before I wear it & I have to finish a whole lotta i-cord for my belt, but it's about half way done. I figure that makes it done. Not wear it tomorrow kind of done, but I could literally wear it in a few days if I could concentrate. Which I can't. So I will post a picture when I finish it completely & it's wearable.

Have a good week!

My new favorite thing

2008-08-22T15:41:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm way behind the times on this but I have just found Pandora radio. This has to be the greatest invention ever! You can create an account & it will customize radio stations for you to play while you are on your computer. You type in an artist or song that you love & it will find songs with the same general properties & play those as well. You can then tell it that you like those songs or not - the more information you give it the better it gets (much like the Amazon.com recommendations that seriously freak me out they are so accurate. {shiver}). I currently have the following stations on mine:
Duran Duran (my absolute favorite)
Maroon 5
The Bee Gees
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Kid Rock
Abba (much like the Bee Gees, as you can imagine)
Madonna - but when it starting giving me her new bullshit dance stuff I said I didn't like it, so it started into Like a Virgin territory & I told it I did like that. Now it sounds a lot like a Breakfast Club soundtrack in our office. HOORAY!

Hmmmmm, Breakfast Club radio. I might have to try that.

If you try it & find a "station" that you think I might like, let me know. I'd love to hear how you like it if you try it out.

Peace.

Adventures in Gay Bingo

2008-08-18T08:36:00.006-05:00

First I must say, Gay Bingo is the most fun ever! If you live in the DFW area or if there is such an event in your area, you must go right now. Seriously.

The Outfit:
I debated what to wear to an event titled "Double Wide: One Man's Trash is Another Man's treasure". My original idea was to go buy a moo moo, for lack of a better word. I headed to Walmart & ick - I honestly didn't think I could wear that in public even as a joke. So I was searching Walmart debating buying NASCAR pajama pants & wearing them in public when Liz called & said she thought she had some overalls with Tweety Bird on them, and they might be shorts. OMG. Perfect. I also found some jellies - ick. I scouted out my options, like what kind of sponge rollers they sell at wallyworld & left with nothing. I had to see my muse - the overalls - to get it all together. Liz sent me a picture - she did find overalls, they didn't have Tweety Bird but they were pretty bad. I found a strapless bandana material top in my closet (I can't believe I ever wore this for real, though I was in Vegas, but still). It would be perfect if I wore a regular bra. And where is my blue eyeshadow? I am happy to report that no blue eyeshadow lives in my house, I would have to buy some. I found Mardi Gras beads in my vanity drawer to wear as my jewelry (doesn't everyone have Mardi Gras beads on hand? no? hmm, ok). I knew I was on the right track when I hit Walmart on my way to pick up Liz for a few things to complete my outfit & I headed to the checkout with my I Love My Eyes blue eyeshadow, sponge rollers, & my red jellies. The not very sophisticated checkout girl said, and I quote, "Them is some cute shoes for the summer, and they are on sale for $3! And it's tax free weekend." I stared at her in disbelief. Um, no they aren't cute, I'm buying them to poke fun at people that think they are cute, and tax on these shoes are about..oh, I don't know, a quarter! I'll put it in my house fund - I'm sure the mortgage company will be impressed. And by the way, the shoes were only $5 to begin with. But I didn't want to insult her so I simply said "Aren't they?" and moved on thinking they must be perfect. Because somehow I think that girl was raised in a double wide.

When I got to Liz's she was still in her nightgown. Her husband had told her that she really needed to get dressed & she told him she was dressed. See, she grew up in East Texas & had just spent a weekend there. She attended a wedding & in true trailer couture, some ladies AT A WEDDING were in the dress she uses as a nightgown. Perfect. So we both made out eyelids scream BLUE and curled up our hair. The Liz made the topper to my outfit - a sash made out of a trash bag that says "Miss Louisiana Trailer Park 1990." In the car on our way to meet everyone else we passed a Uhaul. Welcome to Texas. Everything you have heard is true. I bet those people are still hiding in their new house afraid to meet their neighbors.

Betty, Annise, Me - I can't believe I'm posted this picture of me but you need to know.

Lunch:
Just a tip for ya. If you dress like trailer trash, don't meet for a late lunch at one of the most fashionable areas in your town. Oh, but we did. We met at Cafe Express at Mockingbird Station. Oh yes, we did. Three of us went up to order at the same time - it is safer to travel in groups. I ordered wine, naturally, and told the guy that I really needed some & he did realize that we were going to a costume party, right? He admitted that he was wondering why we were dressed like that. I commended him on being professional & waiting on us as though we were dressed like normal people. People did check us out but honestly, not as much as I imagined. Mostly I think they ignored us for being unfashionable but in that neighborhood, I would expect the same treatment if I was dressed in my non-designer duds from Target. We also got our final accessory - Annise brought us all candy cigarettes, which have somehow become the mascot for all of our major get togethers but actually served a purpose in this case.

Annise is pregnant & this is the first time that I've seen her in a few weeks & dang, that baby grew. It couldn't have been more perfect. Right?

The Event:
So the actual bingo was SO FUN. We had a big group so we had reserved tables up in the front. The event is held at a club called S4 & this club has drag shows on Saturday nights at like 11:00 - when all of us ladies that live in the suburbs are already sleeping. The stage was set up like a scene from Jerry Springer & there were skits, including a cat fight.

There was also dancing by extremely cute unshirted men. Btw, I finally know where all the cute men in Dallas are! at gay bingo looking for each other apparently.

The music was great, they serve you drinks, bingo was fun, if you call bingo incorrectly you go to bingo jail - these girls don't mess around! Two ladies in our group actually won some cash ($95 & $119). It's for sure a do over - we will be going back. Hopefully the outfits will not always be so horrifying. But the fun will be the same.

My Mom would be so proud.....

2008-08-15T20:01:00.004-05:00

A group of friends & I are going to check out gay bingo in "big Dallas" (I live in the suburbs & that's what I call it - don't mock me) tomorrow night. Each month there is a theme. Tomorrow night the theme is "Double wide: One man's trash is another man's treasure." We are dressing up. My list for my Walmart in the morning includes the following:

Blue eyeshadow
Pink sponge rollers
jellies

Shorts overalls are involved.

Wow. You know what they say. You can take the girl out of the country......

Stay tuned.

Is it seriously almost August?

2008-07-30T08:26:00.014-05:00

I refuse to come here once a quarter and make some lame excuses as to how busy I am & why I haven't been blogging. I really hate it when people do that. So let me just tell you what's been going on in my knitting world & let's call it a deal, ok?

First I just must mention this because it's driving me freaking insane. My "k" key on my laptop is sticking. AAARRRGGGGHHHHHH! Thank goodness that doesn't include a "k" because it would have been really tough to type. It seems that something might be under it maybe? And I'm not sure if I can pop it off & clean under it & pop it back on so I won't do it. Ok - I'll move on but I thought I would mention it - if suddenly a word doesn't make sense, try throwing a "K" in there somewhere.

What am I knitting?
Well, my last few entries were about Barn Raising Quilt squares. I am currently at 17 squares so that's some progress. Want to see some pictures?

Those are in addition to the ones in the previous post which you have already seen. I was a little optimistic when I started this project. I really thought I wanted to do the quilt out of my scraps to make it a reminder of old projects blah blah blah. Until I finished up my scraps. Guess what? It will take me 11 million years to make enough socks to finish this. So in case you haven't heard, I would really like one scrap from my knitting peeps so that they will have a square in my blanket that represents them. I don't care what color or what yarn. Some yarns seem more appropriate for some people than others. Like Jen gave me a Lorna's scrap (not pictured yet, but it was #17) - it's terribly appropriate because she has a Lorna's addiction. Betty gave me the purple & pink scrap - purple is her favorite color & pink is mine. Liz gave me her scrap of Socks that Rock Misty Kelp that has a history between us but honestly that story is so long & you really won't care at all. The point is that we know & it is meaningful. Don't feel pressure though, if you give me a scrap it doesn't have to have a ridiculous tie in other than "this is pretty"! If you are an internet friend & you want to donate to my cause, email or PM me on Ravelry & I'll send you my address. I really love the idea of this blanket & I keep putting the fact that I will have to seam it all one day out of my head.

Speaking of hating seaming but being obsessed with small objects that require seaming....I also started the Astrid shawl. You basically make a billion circles then put them all together. Seriously, what is wrong with me? Did I mention that I don't really like seaming? Or weaving in ends that much? I'm knitting it in Noro Cashmere Island color #10 & it's going to be freaking gorgeous. I'm hoping to have it finished in time to wear to one of my nieces' weddings one day. They are ages 9 & 6 - I might just hit that goal! This is the set of "medium" circles.

I also did a few small ones but no photos yet. I love this yarn - I am a mild hater of Noro Silk Garden & Kuyeron so let me tell you - if you love the color changes of Noro & want something softer, I highly recommend Cashmere Island.

What else? Patrick is still deployed with Texas State Guard for Hurricane Dolly. He is in Austin now though so not very far from home & it looks like he will be home by Saturday at the latest. Thank goodness! I'm missing him.

I do have other stuff on & off my needles but I have to save some stuff until next time!

Barn Raiser update

2008-05-14T22:15:00.003-05:00

Ok - so I finished 4 squares - redid one of the old ones & made 3 new ones correctly. I also frogged all of the old ones today. It's really sad that pulling the bind off took a while but winding the yarn / pulling out 5-6 hours worth of knitting takes well under a minute. Bummer

What yarn is that?
Top left - Cider Moon June Carter
Top right - Yarn Ahoy Berry Beautiful
Bottom left - Cherry Tree Hill Misty Moor (from my Chevron Scarf)
Bottom right - Knit Clinic Autumn Fever

Barn Raiser woes

2008-05-09T07:51:00.001-05:00

So I just finished #5 square of my Barn Raising Quilt. When I started it I actually re-read the directions & realized why my squares look more like a boob holder than a square. I missed 4 YOs per row - so yeah, when my stitch count was off by about 50ish on the first one I should have realized what was wrong but no - I just kept knitting squares. 3 more in fact. So I have to rip them out & start over. As I was ripping last night Patrick asked me why didn't I just ditch the ones I had & start over - uh, because then I won't have any yarn, I'm using my scrap yarn from socks! So I really don't have a choice except to rip them out. The worst part is I did a sewn bind off so they have to be picked out, they won't just rip. Sigh. At least each square only took me about 2 nights of knitting. Still. What a pain in the arse.

Still knitting

2008-04-28T07:18:00.010-05:00

Really I am. I haven't completely given up on my blog but I'm having a hard time getting motivated to write about my knitting. Between my local group & Ravelry, I feel like I interact about knitting and yarn A LOT. I'd prefer not to let it completely take over my life, but it might already be too late!

This is my insanely busy time at work - literally I don't take a break from the time I walk in until I leave 8 hours later - I eat at my desk & run quickly to the bathroom. It's insane. So the absolute last thing I want to do when I get home is try to think of witty things to write about knitting. So this is turning into the "whatever the heck I feel like" today blog. Patrick & I have done some traveling lately & I'm in the process of writing up trip reports so I can share our experiences and photos. The Colorado trip is close. Then we took the road trip home to Louisiana & honestly, I think our car time is highly entertaining so I'm going to tell you about that too. Stay tuned.

Knitting: still working on kimono. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel but I just can't bring myself to work on it. So instead I cast on for a different sweater - Ophelia. I'm using Blue Sky Alpacas cotton & it is such a dream to knit with. I am putting sleeves on it because I love all of you too much to subject you to my upper arms, and now I'm stuck. I got all the way to the armholes then went to visit with Alissa to help me put sleeves on it. She helped me & I haven't picked it up since. Instead I bought a new book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together & started ANOTHER new project - the Barn Raising Quilt made out of my scrap sock yarn. I finished 4 squares in 6 days so I think that's pretty cool. Here they are in all of their unfinished / unblocked glory:

It's a fun project but since I've only knit about 6 or 7 pairs of socks, I have a long way to go before I finish the 42 I'll need to make an actually blanket. So do you see a theme here? I completely can't commit to any one project, though I did complete a lavender scarf (Pasty Purple? Really, Berroco?) out of Berroco Plush yarn because I just need a dang break from patterns. It is SO insanely soft - this yarn would make great chemo caps. And I guess it will because I bought 5 balls of it 1/2 off at Rose Path Weaving several weeks ago & that scarf only took a little over 1 ball.

What else haven't I shown you. OH! I finished the knitting work on this Tovesta bag.

I LOVE this color & this was a fun project. As usual I haven't lined it yet & haven't done the finishing work. I actually don't even have fabric to finish this one - usually I pick fabric in the midst of a project because I love that part. No go this time around, I haven't even looked. I went to this one fabric store that I had never been to & whew. Let me give you a tip. If the fabric store has chandeliers, you probably can't afford the fabric that they sell. Just saying. The fabric I liked was $44 per yard. Holy crap! I get the whole quality issue, blah blah blah. I just need something that my stuff inside of my purse is going to sit on. I'm not wrapping my most precious bits. Geeze. I'm hoping to cure my fear of lining soon. We'll see.

I just thought of something else I haven't talked about - DFW Fiber Fest. Man I have a lot of stuff that I haven't told. Must get ready for work though - more later.